It’s astonishing how quickly politics corrupts people.

Latest example?

Maricopa County prosecutor Rachel Mitchell.

By all accounts she has had a long and honorable career as a tough, fair prosecutor. Then she got her 15 minutes of fame and … poof! … political hack.

Hopefully, it's a temporary condition and will pass.

Mitchell provided a memo to the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee who hired her to serve as cover for the cowardly men on the committee and question Dr. Christine Blasey Ford over her allegations that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were in high school.

Professional at the hearing, then

Mitchell was straightforward and professional in her questioning but it was clear from the beginning that she didn’t have enough information and not nearly enough time to pursue the case.

Still, at the end, Mitchell produced a memo to her Republican benefactors in which she writes:

“In the legal context, here is my bottom line: A ‘he said, she said’ case is incredibly difficult to prove. But this case is even weaker than that. Dr. Ford identified other witnesses to the event, and those witnesses either refuted her allegations or failed to corroborate them. For the reasons discussed below, I do not think that a reasonable prosecutor would bring this case based on the evidence before the Committee. Nor do I believe that this evidence is sufficient to satisfy the preponderance-of-the-evidence standard.”

What a sad statement from a seasoned prosecutor.

What the memo should have said

Mitchell must know better.

The only thing Mitchell should have included in her memo, given the fact that the chose to write one, is that she didn’t have nearly enough time or information to draw ANY conclusion.

That’s what would have happened if the case brought before her in Maricopa County. She wouldn’t have discounted Dr. Ford’s accusation but told investigators to go out and do their job and provide her with enough material to make an informed decision one way or the other.

A former associate of Mitchell’s in the Maricopa County Attorney’s office took Mitchell and her memo to task in Mother Jones.

Matthew Long, a former sex crimes prosecutor, told Mother Jones, “I’m very disappointed in my former boss and mentor. I find her willingness to author this absolutely disingenuous and that she knows better…Because she should only be applying this standard when there’s an adequate investigation … Mitchell doesn’t have sufficient information to even draw these conclusions.”

Some of the other questions

Long points to a number of other aspects that are distressing about Mitchell’s memo. For example, while she questions some of Dr. Ford’s statements the prosecutor does not go into any analysis of Judge Kavanaugh’s answers, more than a few of which have been found wanting.

Several publications have found misstatements by Kavanaugh.

A college friend has come forward and said Kavanaugh lied about his drinking and behavior at Yale.

Any good prosecutor knows that when evaluating a case like this it is important to thoroughly explore the personal histories of the two parties in order to provide insight into which one is telling the truth.

Those are the kind of things that Mitchell could have – and should have – suggested in her memo.

Instead, she chose the position of a hired gun and unloaded on Dr. Ford.

I'd guess that Mitchell would never accept such sloppy, superficial work from a junior prosecutor at the Maricopa County Attorney’s office.

But then, this wasn’t about justice. It was about politics.

Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.

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