Sheriff Joe Arpaio was awaiting a potential sentence of up to a year in prison when Trump pardoned him on Aug. 25. | Robyn Beck/Getty Images Judge accepts Trump pardon of Arpaio

Acceding to a controversial pardon from President Donald Trump, a federal judge has dismissed the criminal contempt of court case against former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio for defying a court order to stop profiling Latinos, multiple local news reports said.

U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton tossed out the case against the 85-year-old ex-lawman with prejudice, meaning it cannot be reinstituted.


However, the judge issued no immediate ruling on Arpaio's request that all rulings in the case be formally vacated. She took that issue under advisement, the Associated Press reported.

Arpaio was not present at the hearing.

Several liberal groups and a set of more than 30 Democratic members of Congress had argued that Trump's pardon was invalid and Bolton should ignore it.

However, the Justice Department agreed with Trump's attorneys that the pardon should end the case and that Arpaio is entitled to have all the court's rulings in the matter set aside.

In July, following a bench trial, Bolton found Arpaio guilty of defying another federal judge's order to end ethnic profiling of Latinos.

Arpaio was awaiting a potential sentence of up to a year in prison when Trump pardoned him on Aug. 25. In a formal statement, the president cited Arpaio's long service to law enforcement and the community. However, in other settings, Trump complained that the veteran lawman had been treated "unbelievably unfairly" and should have been entitled to a jury trial.

Bolton is an appointee of President Bill Clinton. The judge who issued the order Arpaio was accused of defying, Murray Snow, is an appointee of President George W. Bush.

