“The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office expects us to believe that they hired Clint Davis for one week to issue an “expert opinion”, and in only 8 days, he saw files with evidence of all the defendants’ tattoos and knows the names of other protesters in unrelated cases, including Bruce Franks Jr. MCAO would have us believe that Davis coincidentally wandered into the Gilbert Police station, a month after his contract with MCAO is complete, to conduct an unauthorized interview with a subject, and possible suspect, of an ongoing criminal investigation, which he is no longer officially part of, to talk with someone the MCAO says they may re-charge. And all of this happened without an attorney present, which is completely unethical. It is also very likely this is witness tampering. 

It is clear that this is a reconnaissance mission to hide problems with how MCAO handled protest cases to avoid civil liability and accountability. It’s also evident that MCAO is still investigating protesters and pretending they’re not. Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel needs to come clean. Since the community and media exposed the MCAO’s lies, Adel has been telling half truths and pretending that the issues with protest cases, which include blatant lies told under oath by law enforcement and malicious prosecution by her own staff, is merely the result of rogue actors.

Adel claims the MCAO is operating with transparency when she made a media spectacle of hiring Judge Steinle to investigate. However, she left out the significant detail that MCAO commissioned a former police gang detective to operate behind the scenes. How can MCAO expect us to believe an investigation of this magnitude would be initiated without approval? How can we trust anyone in any of these agencies? What else are they covering up? 

This is more proof that Adel’s statements about dropping cases in ‘the interest of justice’ is just lip service. She’s been giving public interviews to carefully selected media outlets and providing a steady drip of information. It’s clear MCAO is adjusting their story to avoid the truth coming out. We all knew the corruption ran deep, but this is beyond the pale. The actions of Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, Phoenix Police Department, and now Gilbert Police Department, as well as individuals acting on behalf of these agencies, have surpassed misconduct.

This new information appears to have uncovered police and prosecutors committing conspiracy and compounding, accomplice liability, solicitation, and facilitation. The actions of police and prosecutors in these cases, as a matter of law, meet the statutory definition of a ‘criminal street gang’. This is why it makes no sense to have police investigating police. Ever.”