A federal judge is not ready to throw out the criminal conviction of former Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Attorneys for Arpaio and the Department of Justice have filed motions with the federal court asking the judge to toss the former Sheriff’s guilty verdict.
The motion from the government for vacatur and dismissal came after President Donald Trump issued a pardon for Arpaio in late August.
Arpaio was convicted of criminal contempt for knowingly violating a judge’s order to stop enforcing federal immigration law. But in an order filed Thursday, Judge Susan Bolton wrote that previous case law has left guilty verdicts intact after a presidential pardon. Several citations listed by the judge say pardons simply eliminate the possibility of future punishment but do not alter the record of conviction.
Bolton wrote the government did not fully address this issue and ordered lawyers to respond within a week.
