Justice Dept. supports Arpaios bid to have guilty finding thrown out

By Matt Zapotosky
September 11 at 5:55 PM

The Justice Department on Monday said in a court filing it agrees a judge should erase her finding that former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio violated a court order and was guilty of criminal contempt — a move that would have virtually no practical impact but which Arpaio considers a symbol of vindication.

In a short court filing, attorneys from the Justice Department’s public integrity section wrote that because President Trump’s pardon of Arpaio — which came before he was sentenced and a final judgment issued in his case — guaranteed he would face no consequences from the verdict against him, “the government agrees that the Court should vacate all orders and dismiss the case as moot.”

Arpaio himself had asked for such a result after Trump pardoned him last month, but the judge in the case declined to do before an Oct. 4 hearing on the matter.

"My only reaction is that the law is clear on it, and the court has an obligation to follow the law," Jack Wilenchik, an attorney for Arpaio, said Monday."If not for the pardon, we would have appealed this and obtained a jury and acquittal, but at this point, the case is moot, and we have no ability to do that" ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/09/11/justice-dept-supports-arpaios-post-pardon-bid-to-have-guilty-finding-thrown-out/?utm_term=.4209c0dafb57

Of course, if Arpaio believed the matter should move forward in the courts had wanted to appeal, and that the pardon has prevented that, he would have been completely free to refuse the pardon. And he is still free to argue before 4 October that the matter should be allowed to move forward through the courts