Jacques Billeaud, Author at The Rapid City Post

A modern apartment building is shown Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, in Colorado City, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Towns once run by Warren Jeffs’ polygamous sect emerge from court supervision transformed

January 30, 2026

Two neighboring towns on the Arizona-Utah border that once served as a haven for a polygamous religious sect have entered a new era. Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah, were once controlled by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The changes to the towns came after the sect’s leader and prophet, Warren Jeffs, was imprisoned for sexually assaulting girls he considered brides, most followers moved away and religious influences were excised from the local governments and shared police force. Restrictions imposed by religious leaders were lifted, and the towns were released from court supervision last summer, nearly two years earlier than expected.

FILE - Former Arizona state Rep. Austin Smith, R-Wittmann, pauses during a session on the floor during a debate on the Arizona abortion law at the capitol, April 24, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

Ex-Arizona lawmaker who questioned election integrity gets probation for using forged signatures

January 6, 2026

A former Republican lawmaker in Arizona has been sentenced to probation and a five-year ban on running for public office. Austin Smith, who was a leader for the conservative group Turning Point Action, pleaded guilty to using nominating petitions with forged signatures for a 2024 primary election. He admitted to forging a dead woman’s signature and using false petitions. Smith served one term in the Arizona House before dropping his reelection bid in April 2024. His lawyer said Smith is embarrassed and will not run for office again. The judge noted the offense undermined election integrity. Turning Point Action is the campaign arm of Turning Point USA.

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 )

Arizona jury sentences man to death in string of killings in metro Phoenix during 2017

December 18, 2025

A jury has sentenced a man to death in six murders in metro Phoenix in 2017, but was undecided on the punishment for his convictions in the killings of his mother and stepfather. The punishment given to Cleophus Cooksey Jr. marks the end of a seven-month trial over attacks that targeted random victims and his own mother and stepfather. The jury delivered its sentencing decision on Thursday. Cooksey was found guilty in late September of murder in the killings. The victims included two men found dead in a parked car, a security guard shot while walking to his girlfriend’s apartment and a woman who was kidnapped, her body found in an alley after police say she was sexually assaulted. Cooksey has maintained his innocence.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Jacques Billeaud.