Stay away from Gandarilla, Boys...

Found this county press release showing a postive connection between Wilcox and Gandarilla from 2008. That explains why so many more googles are coming up to my pages lately searching for "Gandarilla" and "complaints", or "Gandarilla", "name of a defendant" (charged by MCSO with trespassing), and a ."pdf" from the ".agi". They're out there fishing for dirt on him because he had the audacity to challenge Arpaio and Thomas and slap them both down in court for their petty prosecutions.

If they go after him, you know they won't stop until they've seized all offices of power, high and low - they'll have it all wrapped up well before the elections...so, it has to stop here. No more indictments until Thomas' and Arpaio's are served. Judges who go along with them might as well retire, because it's been under their watch and signatures that all this has been going on. The judiciary is a huge part of the problem in this county, in fact. By June we should have a pretty comprehensive evaluation done of the judges up for 2010 re-election in critical seats to disseminate.

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Armando Gandarilla Appointed Downtown Justice of the Peace

Upon the recommendation of Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors today appointed Armando Gandarilla as the new Justice of the Peace for the Downtown Justice Court.  Gandarilla replaces Carlos A. Mendoza who resigned.  The new judge will take office effective September 1, 2008.

“I am delighted to have such a qualified candidate interested in public service,” said Mary Rose Wilcox, District 5.  Mr. Gandarilla has more than 30 years supervisory experience in the probation and justice arenas.”

Gandarilla holds a bachelor’s degree in social work from Arizona State University and completed studies for a masters in organizational management from the University of Phoenix.  He was employed as a probation officer/supervisor for the Maricopa County Adult Probation Office from 1975-2002.

Community honors include the Hon Kachina 12 who Care Award, Volunteer Probation Officer of the Year Award and Spirit of Giving Award.

Justices of the Peace handle criminal misdemeanor cases, traffic citations, civil cases under $10,000, landlord-tenant disputes, Orders of Protection and Injunctions Against Harassment. 

Another Arpaio Protester Aquitted!

Arpaio foe arrested after meeting acquitted

by Amy B Wang

Aug. 11, 2009 06:40 PM
The Arizona Republic

Randy Parraz, an organizer with a group that regularly protests the policies of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, was acquitted Tuesday in Maricopa County Justice Court of disorderly conduct and criminal trespassing.

The charges stemmed from a Maricopa County Board of Supervisors meeting on September 29, 2008. At the public meeting, protesters with Maricopa Citizens for Safety and Accountability interrupted and held up anti-Arpaio signs. Parraz and others were told by deputies to leave the building because of their conduct. Parraz then stationed himself outside the supervisors' auditorium in an area cordoned off with yellow tape.

The two-day trial, delayed for nearly a year, centered on extensive review of video clips from the meeting and its aftermath. The prosecution charged that Parraz was uncooperative, that his interjections at the meeting were intended to "prevent the transaction of business" and that his refusal to move from the entrance area afterward posed a safety hazard.

The defense claimed that Parraz's six-second interruption was not "protracted" enough to qualify as disorderly conduct. His attorneys also argued that Parraz left the meeting in a cooperative manner and that he was within his rights to remain on public property outside the auditorium.

Justice Armando Gandarilla ruled in favor of the defense, stating that Parraz was exercising his First Amendment rights.

"Politicians and constituents have agreed to disagree," Gandarilla said in his ruling. "It's a sad state of affairs when people who are passionate cannot express their point of view."

Gandarilla added that if there were no grounds for disorderly conduct, then there also were no grounds for criminal trespassing.

Parraz, who also is an attorney, said he was relieved at the conclusion of what had been nearly a year-long process.

"I feel exonerated," Parraz said. "We're not there to disrupt. We're there to get on the agenda."

Dismissed with Prejudice

So, Orlando's trespassing case was thrown out of court today because of procedural problems the Maricopa County Sheriff's office had with the evidence-gathering process. Basically, it sounds like one of their deputies (Smith) blew off the defense's deposition, and her testimony about it was directly contradicted in court by her superior officer (McIntyre). She was pretty hostile during questioning; was even told to chill out a couple of times by the judge - The day's "Minister of Justice": Armando Gandarilla. He admonished her for being "combative".

Gandarilla dismissed the case with prejudice (check this out for the last time he did this), levying sanctions against the MCSO in the process (which will also pick up the defense attorney's tab). The prosecuting attorney tried to offer up Deputy Smith as a sole sacrificial lamb, but Gandarilla wouldn't have it. I don't know what he thinks about the MCSO trying to prosecute the case in the first place, but he listened pretty extensively to the county attorney's arguments and the defense's evidence before issuing his decision. It really came down to whether Smith blew off the original defense's deposition contemptuously or missed it under a supervisor's orders or through sincere error. Clearly Smith didn't emanate sincerity.

So, dismissing the case wasn't necessarily a message that it was brought irresponsibly in the first place, but the good Judge didn't let the opportunity pass to tell the Sheriff what he thinks. Gandarilla cited his 31 years in the legal profession, which always means that someone's in trouble. He couldn't believe this case had even reached his bench, and seemed pretty annoyed with the prosecutor for trying it. He mentioned that people in the legal profession are held to higher standards, and suggested that the MCSO's lack of credibility and conduct in this case and in general has put all of law enforcement in a bad light - hence the sanctions against the department, not just the deputy. So, it wasn't so much about freedom of speech or anything as it was about the integrity of evidence - officially, anyway.

At least, I think that's what happened. Check out Stephen Lemons' blog this week, I'd guess, for the full scoop. It was really a pretty good show by the defense - sorry I didn't get his name.

The courtroom was packed, by the way, with all the usual suspects and a few I didn't know, including a whole bunch of kids. We all started to applaud and cheer but got hushed after the prosecutor gave up arguing with the judge and he issued his ruling one final time. One of the other court-watchers heard the county attorney say, on her way out the door, "I hope you all get sanctions" (presumably a reference to our collective emotional response to Orlando's victory).

Guess this won't go over well in either Arpaio's or Thomas' offices today. They probably watched it on closed-circuit TV trying to identify members of the audience to see who to go after next. Stupid white men (with guns). You're never going to win this one, guys. You can't just keep bullying people into silence or submission, be it by criminalizing their freedom of speech, or conducting those massive "crime suppression sweeps" in select neighborhoods. We outnumber you now.