And ... Brian's BOTG Report
OPINION:
Another Exciting Day in Federal Court (Day 2)
It’s 7:15am and I’m sitting in front of the Sandra Day O’ Connor Federal Court House waiting for the doors to open at 7:30am.
Yesterday had to be a huge disappointment for Joe Arpaio. There was a miniscule turnout of supporters for Joe. My friend Carl T. got it right when he opined that “Arpaio’s 15 minutes of fame is over.”
I wondered if Jim Fotis of the National Center for Police Defense (NCPD) is feeling a little queasy after dropping a reported $300,000.00 for Joe Arpaio’s court costs in defense of the federal criminal charges. Fotis must have been shocked when the Arpaio supporter turnout was less than a handful of people coming from a county of over 4 million residents. Hopefully, it sent a message to Mr. Fotis. I think he has chosen to support the wrong cause. (He never did answer my emails.)
It’s now 7:30am and the doors were just unlocked. I’ve just gone through the U.S. Marshal’s security checkpoint. The Marshals are really a great bunch. They are very polite and very professional. I discussed the extremely hot conditions in the court house and wondered how the Marshals on duty survived. They have a mini swamp cooler sitting on the floor that cools their check point. I learned today that whatever the temperature is outside, it pretty much translates to the same temperature in the huge, multi floor atrium area. Essentially it’s a great place for plants, but very uncomfortable in the winter and the summer for people. Today, when I left, the outdoor temperature was about 110+ degrees. The individual courtrooms fortunately are air conditioned. It can be very uncomfortable attending Joe Arpaio’s trial in this building.
Waiting for the outer courtroom door to be unlocked on the 5th floor, I spoke with a gentleman who is an Arpaio supporter. He attended court yesterday. He was the first Arpaio supporter to arrive today. Much to my surprise I was informed that this gentleman is working with Joe Arpaio, three days a week on a new Joe Arpaio book. Apparently, the book will detail all the events and politics that have brought us to the Arpaio criminal trial. He said that nobody knows the real Joe Arpaio. I didn’t have the heart to tell him, “I do.”
Another interesting thing happened at the courthouse. Dennis Wilenchik spoke to me for several moments and actually revealed his defense strategy to me. He told me that Sheriff Arpaio was operating under the law of SB-1070 and the dictates of 287(g). (In the case of SB-1070, I thought a federal court order was superior to state law.) Wilenchik formerly represented MCSO Chief Brian Sands. He said Attorney Tim Casey didn’t understand Judge Snow’s injunction order. He said that Casey was responsible for Arpaio not following Snow’s order. Wilenchik told me that Judge Bolton was involved in two other constitutional cases, similar to the Arpaio case. Wilenchik said he was not convinced that Judge Bolton would rule in his favor. Wilenchik asked me what I thought about Arpaio’s possible outcome in the current case. I told him that, based on what evidence and testimony that I witnessed back in 2015, at the civil contempt of court hearings, I responded, “guilty.” Wilenchick said that I couldn’t make that determination based on a civil trial. If I recall correctly, I listened to news interviews of Attorney Mark Goldman and as I recall he had said that Arpaio never admitted to being in civil contempt during the civil contempt of court hearings. I told Wilenchik that, according to the court transcripts, Arpaio admitted 3 times that he was in contempt of court. Wilenchik disagreed. I ended the conversation when I told Mr. Wilenchik that he was the most aggressive attorney that Arpaio has ever had, in my opinion. He smiled and gave me a pat on the back. He was very aggressive in the courtroom today.
At 9:00am, there were 19 spectators in the courtroom. There were only a couple of Arpaio supporters, and the press and anti-Arpaio spectators were just about evenly matched.
Cross examination of Tim Casey continues from yesterday
There were many heated exchanges between Tim Casey and Dennis Wilenchik. There were several heated exchanges between Dennis Wilenchik and Judge Bolton. This was a completely different experience in comparison to Judge Snow’s civil contempt of court hearings. Ultimately, Wilenchik essentially accused Casey of not understanding Judge Snow’s Order. Wilenchik continued to stress that Casey had never offered Arpaio any interpretation of Judge Snow’s preliminary injunction in writing. Essentially, Wilenchik provided a complete laundry list of alleged failures on Tim Casey’s part regarding Judge Snow’s preliminary injunction order. At one point, according to my notes, Wilenchik asked Casey point blank, “Are you innocent?” Casey retorted: “There was never an issue about me doing my job until Dennis Wilenchik became involved.” Casey apparently saw the light when he retorted:
“Throwing the former [Arpaio] lawyer under the bus.” [That’s Wilenchik’s defense strategy according to Casey.] Maybe Casey finally read the comments at The Fogbow?
(For further information and lots of detail, please review the court transcripts. The comments above may have been stricken from the court record. Things got pretty testy and nasty.)
At 11:45am there were 30 spectators, which was lower than yesterday. The local news reported that it was a full house. Not so.
We broke for lunch. I went down to the food bar on the ground floor in the atrium. It was at least 100 degrees or more. I bought a salad and a Coke and began to enjoy my lunch. Joe Arpaio came down with his attorney Mark Goldman, who had his unkempt hair in a ponytail. He still reminds me of Johnny Depp. Arpaio waved his hand at me and I returned the gesture. He asked me if I was still living in the same community. I answered his question and went back to eating my lunch. When I finished, I walked over to CBS reporter, Donna Rossi, introduced myself and sat down to review the political events of the day. Suddenly, Joe Arpaio walked toward us and said, "You’re the guy that writes all of the bad stuff about me.” Then Arpaio said: "We proved the birth certificate is a forgery." I responded: "What’s Mike Zullo doing? Arpaio shrugged and said, "You would know.” And then Arpaio walked around the corner to the bank of elevator doors. Shortly after Arpaio left, U.S. Marshal David Gonzales approached us. I suggested that he should now consider running for the GOP as Maricopa County Sheriff and handed him a card.
I decided to end my day in court after having lunch. Fortunately, I was not exposed to Lisa Allen’s testimony this afternoon which would have made it difficult for me to keep my lunch down. She is the expert at putting on dog and pony shows.
Today will be my last court report. I see the defense strategy clearly. It’s just a matter of time before all of the various performances come to an end. I don’t think that I want to sit through anymore of this quasi Greek tragedy. We need to be patient and wait for Judge Bolton’s decision. Hopefully, she will discern the truth.
Regards,
Brian Reilly
) : Here’s the “Background Letter” Arpaio’s lawyers sent Attorney General Sessions:
x6 
x2 
x4 
x2
