Harvard Death-Penalty Study Rips Maricopa County Prosecutors

Maricopa County’s death-penalty system is plagued by “overzealous” prosecutors and creates a high number of questionable death-penalty cases, according to a new Harvard Law School report. “Too Broken to Fix: Part I: An In-Depth Look at America’s Outlier Death Penalty Counties,” by the school’s Fair Punishment Project, identifies Maricopa as one of…

Arizona Woman Denies Child-Porn Charges, Blames Teen Daughter

An Arizona woman charged with receiving infant porn said on Monday that it was her teen daughter, not her, who was in communication with a Colorado child-porn suspect. Sarah Cox, 39, of Clarkdale, was charged last week with three counts of knowingly receiving child pornography. As a New Times article…

Arizona’s 10 Deadliest Deadly Women

In 2012, Rebekah Mellon, a 31-year-old mother of one, was charged with the first-degree murder of her husband, who was found shot to death in the family’s Phoenix home. In a bizarre twist, the shooting was recorded on video, thanks to the family’s indoor surveillance system. When the case goes to…

Feds Charge Phoenix Cop for Starting Wildfire with Tracer Rounds

Federal authorities have charged a Phoenix police officer and his cousin for setting off a wildfire near the ghost town of Cleator while target shooting with tracer ammunition. Tom Sario, who has worked as a Phoenix officer for nine years, “is currently working on a non-enforcement position,” says Sergeant Jonathan…