Many Latino civil-rights activists are in a celebratory mood after Monday’s conviction of former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio of criminal contempt.
Those were local immigration rights activists Lydia Guzman and Petra Falcon. The former sheriff will be sentenced in October, but Arpaio’s attorney Jack Wilenchik says Arpaio will appeal the contempt verdict in order to get a trial by jury.
Wilenchik says it’s unfair to have a federal judge try a case about another federal judge’s orders.
The National Center for Police Defense also weighed in after Monday’s conviction. In a statement, President James Fotis called the ruling a complete travesty of justice and said if the former sheriff had been judged by a jury “no reasonable man or woman could have possibly found America’s Toughest Sheriff guilty.”
And now we’re joined by Victor Viramontes. He’s the national senior counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. That organization helped sue the former sheriff in 2008, charging that his office unlawfully stopped and mistreated individuals because of their race.
