Crime & Police

U.S. Senator Jeff Flake and Dianne Feinstein are co-sponsoring legislation that would prevent child molesters from cross-examining their child victims; it’s inspired by the events of the trial of Chris Simcox.

The Arizona Governor’s Office of Youth, Faith and Family is admonishing police and prosecutors around the state to rethink their support of Start by Believing, a nonprofit initiative aimed at removing obstacles to the reporting of sexual violence.

Phoenix attorney Kerrie Droban is author of five true-crime books, most of which concern the world of outlaw motorcycle gangs. One of her books, Vagos, Mongols, and Outlaws is the subject of the A&E series Gangland Undercover.

On July 11, a 911 operator turned down a woman’s request for police to come to her home after she reported hearing multiple gunshots that police believe were fired by the Serial Street Shooter. Police say the suspect is responsible for seven homicides, two woundings, and the near miss on…

Public-safety officials from around the state will kick off an annual DUI campaign at the State Capitol on Tuesday in hopes of reducing carnage on the roads this holiday season. Led by Alberto Gutier, director of the Arizona Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, officials scheduled to appear on the Capitol Mall…

Kirk Nurmi, the former lead defense attorney in the Jodi Arias murder trial, has lost his law license for writing a tell-all book about Arias that broke the wall of attorney-client privilege. It’s the latest instance of how Arias, who viciously attacked, mutilated, and killed her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander, in…

A federal judge sentenced former Redflex CEO Karen Finley to 30 months in prison last week for her role in a bribery scheme to win photo-enforcement contracts in Chicago. U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall also ordered Finley to pay $2 million in restitution, telling the 57-year-old Arizonan “there is no…

A Phoenix judge set January 6, 2017, as the final pretrial hearing for Andy Barrios, accused of killing three men on December 26, 2015, in an auto accident.

Senate Minority Leader Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, worked with victims of sexual violence as a social worker and knew there were rape kits that were going untested. “I knew it was an issue, but I didn’t know the extent of it,” she tells New Times in an interview this week. Hobbs learned…

Wolfskin Ink, a popular West Phoenix tattoo parlor whose late proprietor is the subject of this week’s New Times cover story, was firebombed early Wednesday morning by unknown persons wielding a Molotov cocktail. According to Wolfskin’s current owner Rayney Perkins, most of the damage done to the shop was due…

Illegal arrests by a cult-run police force have spurred a new federal lawsuit against two polygamous towns on the Arizona-Utah border. Three businessmen who are former members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints allege that officials in the rural towns of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah, violated…

Just before sunset on a recent Sunday, Alfonso Cordoba is the only street vendor left on a highly trafficked corner near 65th Avenue and Berkeley Road in west Phoenix.  Cordoba, an amiable-looking man in his 40s, is wearing sensible-looking Teva shoes and a straw hat to keep the last traces…

In a lengthy statement released to news outlets on Monday, Arizona’s top federal prosecutor called for the public to curb its rampant speculation about police shootings, which he blamed on “news media, social media, and some politicians.” The statement by John S. Leonardo, U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona, follows…

The Reverend Jarrett Maupin was dragged away in handcuffs by Tempe police Monday morning during a nonviolent protest of police shootings that closed down both sides of Mill Avenue Bridge for about an hour. Maupin had just finished leading a small but vocal crowd of about 50 to 75 to…

The Reverend Jarrett Maupin catches a lot of flak for leading protests of police shootings in greater Phoenix. But nature abhors a vacuum. And love him or loathe him, Maupin remains the point man for direct action in the Valley, keeping the pressure on law-enforcement agencies with marches and demonstrations…

Despite an Arizona Supreme Court opinion and sensational news articles, Arizona parents and caregivers can rest easy: Nobody’s going to be charged with child molesting just for changing a baby’s diaper. But the fear is real — and so is the embarrassment Arizona is once again facing nationally because of poor…

Former Phoenix police officer Sergio Virgillo remembers the point of no return for what should have been a routine call to a trailer park in South Phoenix, when fellow cop Richard Chrisman took his Glock 22 and pressed it so hard against the temple of Daniel Rodriguez that it bent Rodriguez’s head to one side. Chrisman and Rodriguez had been “going at it…

At a press conference on Thursday, Arizona’s top law-enforcement officials announced that they have increased the reward for information about the Serial Street Shooter, saying they urgently need the public’s help to crack the case. The news conference at Phoenix police headquarters included Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, Maricopa County…

The Phoenix man who narrowly escaped being killed in July by the Serial Street Shooter doesn’t want his identity revealed. “I’m just an ordinary young man who experienced an extraordinary miracle,” he says with a grin. He may be right about that. On July 11, the unknown assailant, who appears…