Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
UPDATE (4/7/2017 5:58 p.m.): We may have more insight into the reason behind this move. Read on.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the former Maricopa County constable who served as America’s most embarrassing elected official until the last election, is facing federal criminal charges for violating a court order. Now, with a trial set to go to forward on April 25, his lead attorney has filed an emergency motion to withdraw from the case, and it’s all very mysterious.
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In a pair of motions filed this week, attorneys A. Melvin McDonald and Linda Tivorsak of Jones, Skelton & Hochuli requested an expedited ticket out of Arpaio’s defense, citing “professional considerations” requiring “mandatory” withdrawal pursuant to Ethical Rule 1.16(a)(1), which requires withdrawal when continued representation will result in an ethical violation or would otherwise break the law. Arpaio is also represented by Mark D. Goldman and Jeff S. Surdakowski, of the law firm of Goldman & Zwillinger PLLC, who remain on the case, having seemingly avoided whatever ethical conundrum befouled McDonald and Tivorsak’s representation.
McDonald served as lead counsel on this matter for over two years, so whatever prompted him to bail on the case on the eve of trial must be pretty heavy. Unfortunately, the hearing yesterday didn’t provide any clues as to the nature of the motion. As reported in the Arizona Republic:
At the start of the proceeding, Bolton muted the Justice Department prosecutors on the phone and dismissed all in the courtroom aside from the defense. With others out of the room, McDonald presumably detailed his rationale for leaving the case he has headed for more than two years.
The public was allowed back in the courtroom after about 10 minutes. Bolton then announced that McDonald’s motion was granted and that he was excused.
Cue the ominous music and kick off the wild speculation! I’m guessing the firm discovered Arpaio’s long-form birth certificate and learned that he’s actually an undocumented migrant after all.
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Speaking of kickoffs, in case you’re wondering, the Hochuli of Jones, Skelton & Hochuli is in fact NFL Referee Ed Hochuli, who isn’t involved in this matter in any way, but wouldn’t it be great if he precipitated all of this? Like, McDonald asked Ed to look at something and he said, “upon further review, you’ve got an ethics issue here!”
UPDATE: https://twitter.com/KellyFlood3/status/850431584205365248
(Check out the motions on the next page…)