opinion

Is Arpaio pulling his lawyers into the quicksand?

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is up to his waist -- Or is it his neck? -- in legal quicksand.

And he has a team of pretty good lawyers trying to pull him out.

In the process, however, are some of them getting pulled in?

Arpaio had admitted to violating the court order of federal Judge Murray Snow meant to rein in a program deemed to involve racial profiling. And then there are questions about his office talking to an informant about the judge and having a private investigator check out alleged statements by the judge's wife involving possible bias against Arpaio.

The case as it has developed so far and where it might be headed was laid out in an article by The Arizona Republic's Megan Cassidy.

Arpaio could be in for some heavy sanctions from Snow as a result of this civil contempt hearing. Or his case could be to referred to federal authorities to determine if Arpaio should be held in criminal contempt.

A report by KJZZ radio's (91.5 FM) Senior Field Correspondent Jude Joffe-Block suggests that Arpaio's difficulties may be causing ethical questions for some of his attorneys as well.

According to the article, Judge Snow issued an order saying that among the topics lawyers in the case will be asked to discuss Friday is an ethical rule attorneys must follow in order to protect themselves if they unknowingly have presented false evidence.

An attorney can't knowingly present false evidence. And if he or she finds out later that false evidence was presented unknowingly then the lawyer must take some action to correct it. It's puts attorneys in a difficult spot, and could result in trouble for them.

It's impossible to know the judge's reasons for asking about ethical concerns.

But when trying to pull a person out of quicksand I'd imagine there's a point where, if you don't let go, you'll get pulled in with him. So you let go.



