Maricopa County prosecutor to appeal case involving Joe Arpaio to Supreme Court
Aug 6, 2015, 6:57 AM
PHOENIX – Maricopa County Bill Montgomery is planning to have his office appeal a case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Montgomery wants the high court to overturn a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that keeps Maricopa County as a co-defendant in a racial profiling lawsuit against the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.
“You can’t confuse the county for the Sheriff, let alone the treasurer, the county assessor, the county attorney, the county recorder, or anybody else,” Montgomery said.
“They are distinct offices with distinct responsibilities.”
The county is named in a lawsuit brought against Sheriff Joe Arpaio involving Manuel de Jesus Ortega Melendres, who said that in 2007, he was a Mexican tourist who was in the United States legally.
Melendres said he was racially-profiled when sheriff’s deputies pulled over a car that he was riding in near a church in Cave Creek. He claims that he was unlawfully detained by deputies for 9 hours.
Montgomery said that the county does not need to be named in the lawsuit.
“You do not have to sue Maricopa County in an action in order to guarantee that if there’s a money judgment, or a judgment that requires an expenditure of resources, that the county will then pay for that,” Montgomery said.
The prosecutor hoped the Supreme Court will take into consideration that county offices are set up as separate entities under Arizona law.
“To have federal courts essentially provide their own theory of how county operations work is inconsistent with Arizona law,” he said.
