Judge orders criminal contempt trial for Arizona sheriff Arpaio

Source: Reuters

PHOENIX (Reuters) - A federal judge on Tuesday ordered Arizona lawman Joe Arpaio to stand trial in December on a criminal contempt charge of violating the terms of a court ruling against the controversial sheriff in a 2007 racial profiling case.

The latest court order setting Arpaio's trial date for Dec. 6 means that the six-term Maricopa County sheriff will be spared from facing the contempt charge in court until well after his bid for re-election on Nov. 8.

Arpaio, a Republican who has styled himself as "America's toughest sheriff" while pursuing an aggressive crackdown on undocumented immigrants, trails his Democratic challenger by 15 percentage points, according to a poll released last week.

Under contempt proceedings approved by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton, Arpaio is accused of disobeying the terms of a 2011 court injunction barring his officers from stopping and detaining motorists based solely on suspicion that they were in the country illegally.

According to court documents in the case, sheriff's deputies acting at Arpaio's behest continued making such traffic stops for 18 months in defiance of another judge who presided over the civil lawsuit challenging the practice.

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