PHOENIX — “Not guilty.”
When Mark Hasz heard the judge say those two words, he leaned back, spread his arms, and exhaled.
The former prison lieutenant and whistleblower then got up and embraced his family.
“I was overcome. I was emotional,” said Hasz, in an exclusive interview with ABC15 following the verdict. “When I heard that, I got hugs from my family. The biggest weight ever was lifted off of me at that point after four years.”
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In a rare prosecution against a law enforcement officer, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office had pushed the criminal case against Hasz since 2020, when he was charged with felony aggravated assault for a non-injury use-of-force incident involving a high-risk inmate.
Watch footage of the incident in the player at the top of the page
Prosecutors brought Hasz to trial twice.
The first ended in October 2023, when a jury hung on a 6-2 vote, in favor of acquittal.
Following the mistrial, MCAO decided to pursue the aggravated assault charge as a misdemeanor and asked the court to hold a bench trial, in which a judge decides.
The second trial ended in April.
And in a tersely delivered verdict with little explanation, Maricopa County Superior Judge Joseph Kiefer found Hasz not guilty.
MCAO argued in the second trial that Hasz’s use of force met the elements of a criminal act because he hurt the inmate’s feelings.
“The moment he is taken down, that is the criminal act. That is where there is the intent to insult or provoke, not necessarily the intent to injure. But certainly, that’s the criminal act,” prosecutor Douglas Mangun said during closing arguments.
Mangun further argued, “The State also submits that taking someone down by surprise [is] certainly going to subject them to some sort of insult or injury, not in the physical sense, but injury to ego. Victim says he did feel a little bit of belittling in the way he was being handled and taken down to the ground.”
Hasz said he was shocked by the argument.
“You know, the County Attorney’s Office, I think they’re bad people,” Hasz said. “The people involved in this case lied the entire time.”
He added, “I think they were given some sort of direction to get me at all costs.”
In an emailed response to ABC15’s questions, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office denied that retaliation played a role in Hasz’s case. The office did not answer a specific question about whether County Attorney Rachel Mitchell directly signed off on taking the case to trial twice. Instead, the unattributed email stated, “Both were reviewed in accordance with MCAO’s standard procedure.”
Hasz was fired and charged with aggravated assault after an incident on July 21, 2020, inside the Lewis prison complex.
Months before the use-of-force incident that led to his criminal charge, Hasz filed an official whistleblower disclosure with the state about concerns inside the prison system and how top officials blocked staff from wearing masks during the COVID pandemic.
“They went after him to destroy him,” said Shaun Holland, a fellow whistleblower and former assistant deputy warden.
Holland, who was present during Hasz’s alleged assault on July 21, 2020, wasn’t charged himself but was fired.
“Absolute retaliation,” he said. “They needed a reason to fire us. They found something. And they retaliated against us.”
In 2019 and 2020, the Arizona Department of Corrections was suffering from national embarrassment after ABC15 obtained a series of leaked surveillance videos.
The footage exposed widespread chaos inside the Lewis prison complex, which had hundreds of prison doors that couldn’t lock and function properly. The security failures repeatedly led to ambush attacks on staff and inmates.
Unlocked and Unsafe: Leaked videos expose Arizona prison's broken cell doors
ABC15 learned there was at least one inmate’s murder attributed to the broken locks.
The scandal caused to prison system’s long-time director to “retire” and prompted the department to change its name and rebrand itself.
When asked if he believed he was prosecuted to send a message to staff to stop leaking and speaking to ABC15, Hasz responded, “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
He added, “Their goal was reached: To intimate all staff, to do their jobs and keep their mouths shut. And it’s worked. There are big time issues going on to this day, but they don’t want to come forward anymore.”
*Editor’s note: As part of this online report, ABC15 will post two video stories about the case. The first video contains an exclusive interview with Hasz as he discusses his four-year legal battle. The second video will be posted on Monday, June 17, following ABC15 News at 6 p.m. In that story, ABC15 explores how Hasz’s case was handled compared to other high-profile incidents involving law enforcement.*
Contact ABC15 Chief Investigator Dave Biscobing at Dave@ABC15.com.
