When Officer James Beasley resigned from the Phoenix Police Department, his history of misconduct didn’t follow him to his new agency.
His subsequent name change – the same as an infamous movie gangster – only further obscured his record.
James Beasley is now Michael Corleone.
While his identity change is attention-grabbing, an ABC15 investigation found his record on Maricopa County’s ‘Brady’ list was never disclosed to defendants in dozens, and likely hundreds, of cases after went to work for the Pascua Yaqui Police Department.
The situation highlights the continued impact of loopholes in Arizona’s “Brady” lists.
It also shows law enforcement agencies still fail to understand their constitutional obligations at a fundamental level.
“It’s not serious (to police and prosecutors),” said Ben Rundall, a civil rights attorney with ACLU Arizona. “It’s a game. In this case, it’s almost like that cup game. And hopefully, you grab the right cup, and you can find that misconduct.”
In 2005, then-Officer Beasley resigned in the middle of a Phoenix Police Department internal investigation, records show.
“He failed to complete 19 reports in a timely matter and in an attempt to rectify the situation he made untruthful statements to his supervisor,” according to a summary of the investigation.
The findings would land Beasley on the Maricopa County Attorney’s office Rule 15 Disclosure List – more commonly known as the “Brady” list.
In 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court in Brady v. Maryland ruled that police and prosecutors cannot withhold exculpatory evidence, including past cases of dishonesty and other misconduct by officers.
That evidence is known as “Brady” material.
DATABASE: ABC15 finds 1,800 officers on AZ ‘Brady’ lists
In 2007, Beasley went to work for the police department on the Pascua Yaqui reservation, which is located southwest of Tucson, where he worked until 2017.
During his decade with the tribe, officials claimed they didn’t know about his placement on Maricopa County’s ‘Brady’ list and therefore never disclosed the material to defendants in their cases.
“Specific to Mr. Corleone (Beasley), the Tribe confirms that he was a law enforcement employee, he did not disclose Brady issues when hired or when requested, and he resigned in 2017,” according to a statement sent from Pascua Yaqui Chief Prosecutor Malena Acosta.
ABC15 also checked with county and federal prosecutors since those offices often handle high-level crimes on the reservation.
The Pima County Attorney’s Office also did not have James Beasley or Michael Corleone on their “Brady” list.
He was involved in more than 50 cases with PCAO, according to statistics obtained by ABC15 through a public records request.
As for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, a spokesperson said, “We do not maintain records to track the information you are seeking.”
“It’s the responsibility of every law enforcement agency, whether they’re a tribal nation, or whether or municipal entity, to double-check and confirm that every officer that they hire doesn’t have misconduct history,” Rundall said. “And let’s be clear, misconduct history doesn’t necessarily mean this employee shouldn’t be an officer. But what it means is that this is material that individuals who are arrested by this officer are going to have a right to access. That’s their constitutional right.”
Beasley officially changed his name to Michael Corleone in 2011.
The name change was reported to the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board, but not to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.
His entry in MCAO’s “Brady” list is still under his former name.
Corleone did not respond to multiple requests for comment that were sent to his phone, email, social media accounts, and home address.
Contact ABC15 Chief Investigator Dave Biscobing at Dave@ABC15.com.
