Civil rights attorneys against Sheriff Joe Arpaio in his ongoing racial profiling lawsuit want the Sheriff to be referred to federal prosecutors for criminal contempt charges and personally pay $300,000 into a victim compensation fund.
Those requests were two of many filed Friday by attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union in the ongoing lawsuit Melendres v. Arpaio.
Judge Murray Snow asked all parties involved in the case to submit recommended remedies to the court after he found Arpaio and his Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan in civil contempt two weeks ago.
The ACLU requested that Arpaio and Sheridan be referred to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for investigation of criminal contempt and other charges, including perjury and obstruction of justice.
Attorneys for the civil rights group also asked for sweeping reforms and greatly increasing the power of a federal monitor to oversee and run several functions of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. Their proposal also included a victim compensation system that would pay people who were illegally detained by sheriff’s deputies.
Attorneys for Arpaio said they are working with the ACLU to set up a fund for the victims and would consent to further monitoring. The Sheriff’s attorneys also suggested that Arpaio and a top aid pay a combined $100,000 to a Hispanic charity and make a public apology.
But the $100,000 falls well short of what was proposed by the ACLU.
The civil rights organization, which sued on behalf of multiple people who claimed they were illegally detained, asked for Arpaio to personally pay the $300,000 by July 1. The plaintiffs further want to see three other Arpaio aids pay additional money.
Snow will hold a hearing on the proposals Tuesday.
In a statement, Arpaio's attorneys released the following response: "We are in the process of reviewing the other parties’ filings with the Court and look forward to addressing them on May 31st. As stated in their submission to the Court, Sheriff Arpaio, Chief Deputy Sheridan and MCSO are committed to working with the Court and the Parties to fashion adequate civil remedies that address the Court’s Findings of Fact."
Read the ACLU's memo embedded below.
ACLU Remedies by Dave Biscobing
Read Sheriff Joe Arpaio's memo embedded below.
