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Jacques Billeaud.

FILE - Former Sheriff Joe Arpaio leaves the federal courthouse in Phoenix, July 6, 2017. (AP Photo/Angie Wang, File)

Arizona sheriff’s office misused millions meant to remedy racial profiling, report reveals

October 9, 2025

The sheriff’s office for metro Phoenix has spent millions of dollars budgeted for compliance costs in a racial profiling case over Joe Arpaio’s immigration crackdowns on things that had little or nothing to do with a court-ordered overhaul of the agency. That’s according to an expert’s report. For over a decade, Maricopa County taxpayers have been responsible for picking up the bill for remedying constitutional violations found in a 2013 racial profiling verdict over then-Sheriff Arpaio’s traffic patrols targeting immigrants. Sheriff Jerry Sheridan’s office says its attorneys are reviewing the report.

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FILE - Cleophus Cooksey Jr., accused of killing eight people over a three-week span in late 2017, listens during his trial in Maricopa County Superior Court, May 5, 2025, in Phoenix, Ariz. (Mark Henle/The Arizona Republic via AP, Pool, File )

Man accused of 8 fatal shootings in Phoenix area faces jury verdict following murder trial

September 25, 2025

A man tried for murder after he was accused of killing eight people in the metro Phoenix area in 2017 is set to hear a jury’s verdict against him. Cleophus Cooksey Jr.’s trial came more than seven years after the killings due to repeated delays caused by the pandemic. The 43-year-old is accused of murder and other charges stemming from the fatal shootings in Phoenix and nearby Glendale over a three-week span. If he is convicted in the verdict expected Thursday, prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty. Cooksey has said the allegations against him are false. He pleaded not guilty.

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FILE -- In this Jan. 10, 2017 file photo Backpage.com CEO Carl Ferrer appears before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent subcommittee on Investigations looking into Backpage.com. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)

Former Backpage CEO gets three years of probation after testifying at trial about site’s sex ads

September 9, 2025

The former chief executive for the now-shuttered classified site Backpage.com was sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to pay $40,000 in restitution for conspiring to facilitate prostitution by selling sex ads. The judge also declined a prosecutor’s request to sentence the company’s former sale director, who had pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge, to probation. Judge Diane Humetewa commended former CEO Carl Ferrer and sales director Dan Hyer for acknowledging their crime early in the case and for their extensive cooperation in revealing how Backpage operated. Ferrer and Hyer were the last defendants to be sentenced in a sprawling seven-year federal case in Arizona against Backpage’s operators.

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In this image taken from video shows Lori Vallow Daybell, left, speaks to advisory counsel during her sentencing hearing on two murder conspiracy convictions in Phoenix, AZ., on Friday, July 25, 2025. (AP Photo, Pool)

Lori Vallow Daybell stoked tensions with judge in her Arizona murder conspiracy trials

July 25, 2025

Lori Vallow Daybell’s two Arizona murder conspiracy trials were marked by tensions between her and the judge. She accused Justin Beresky of yelling at her, not giving her enough time to prepare and bias. Things were no different during her sentencing hearing Friday, when she received two life sentences on top of the three she is already serving in Idaho. After she complained about the legal system, Beresky pulled no punches. He said Vallow Daybell was not telling the truth when she claimed she was prevented from telling her side and unable to get a fair trial. A retired judge who watched the trials said Beresky did an exceptional job of maintaining decorum and demonstrated extraordinary patience.

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