PHOENIX — The Arizona legal establishment is expected to give its first ruling on failed corruption investigations by America's self-proclaimed toughest sheriff and a former top county prosecutor when an ethics panel on Tuesday issues a highly-anticipated decision on the matter.
Lawyers pressing the disciplinary case against former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas said officials, judges and attorneys who crossed Thomas and his top ally Sheriff Joe Arpaio in legal and political disputes were often targeted for investigations.
Thomas is accused of bringing criminal cases in 2009 against two county officials to embarrass them and charging a judge with bribery when Thomas knew the charges were false.
The three cases were dismissed after a judge ruled that Thomas prosecuted one of the officials for political gain and had a conflict of interest in pressing the case.
Other county officials and judges at odds with Thomas and Arpaio also were investigated by the pair but weren't charged with crimes.
Thomas and Arpaio say they were trying to root out corruption in county government.
Officials targeted for prosecution said the cases were trumped up.
If found to have violated the professional rules of conduct for lawyers, Thomas could be reprimanded, suspended or disbarred.
Arpaio won't face any punishments in the case, but investigations of county officials and judges by the sheriff's anti-public corruption squad took center stage at hearings in the Thomas case.
Separate from the attorney disciplinary case, a federal grand jury also has been investigating Arpaio's office on criminal abuse-of-power allegations since at least December 2009 and is specifically examining the investigative work of the sheriff's anti-public corruption squad.
At Thomas' disciplinary hearing, the sheriff testified in September that he didn't follow the investigations closely and farmed out those cases to his then-top assistant. The former Arpaio aide had testified earlier that some allegations contained in the charges against the judge weren't in fact crimes.
Thomas was accused of bringing criminal cases against County Supervisors Don Stapley and Mary Rose Wilcox to embarrass them. Lawyers also say Thomas filed bribery and obstruction of justice charges against then-Superior Court Judge Gary Donahoe when Thomas knew the allegations were false.
Lawyers pressing the case against Thomas also said the charges against Stapley were barred by the statute of limitations.
Donahoe was charged with bribery after the judge disqualified Thomas' office from its investigation into a construction of a court building. The judge was about to hold a hearing on Thomas' request to appoint special prosecutors to handle investigations against the officials, but that hearing was called off after the charges were filed against the judge.
Thomas said the decision to charge the judge had nothing to do with the decisions the judge issued against his office.
During his testimony, Thomas defended the investigations, saying one of his aides had warned that charging Stapley would be politically costly. But Thomas said he brought the charges against the county supervisor because it was the right thing to do.
Thomas served as the county's top prosecutor from more than five years before resigning in April 2010 to run an unsuccessful campaign for state attorney general.
He was known for confronting illegal immigration, prosecuting metro Phoenix's Baseline Killer and Serial Shooter cases and pursuing criminal cases against county officials.