GC
06-09-2004, 11:09 AM
Public may never see report on prison crisis
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Tom Tingle/The Arizona Republic
Ricky Wassenaar, left, and Steven Coy took two guards hostage in a tower at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Lewis in Buckeye.
Amanda J. Crawford
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 9, 2004 12:00 AM
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Related link
• Special report: Prison hostage standoff >> (http://prison.azcentral.com/)
http://www.azcentral.com/images2/grayrule.gifThey say their intent was simple. Republican legislative leaders wanted an independent investigation into the nation's longest prison hostage standoff.
More than three months and hundreds of thousands of dollars later, the 181-page county grand jury report on the standoff has not been released to the public, and may not be.
The special prosecutor who led the investigation is facing allegations that he may have defied a judicial order and exceeded his mandate.
The whole investigation has come under fire as opponents challenge the impartiality of the review and worry that the grand jury process has been perverted.
Now, as the judge continues to weigh the issues surrounding the public release of the report, some legislators say they regret the decision to use a grand jury to investigate the standoff.
"I am totally dumbfounded at this point," Sen. Jim Weiers, R-Phoenix, said Tuesday. "The taxpayers paid for a product that hasn't been released."
Even the Senate president is second-guessing the move.
"Hindsight is always 20/20," said Sen. Ken Bennett, R-Prescott. "Had I been able to see the end of the path, sitting here wondering if we would have the report released . . . I would have opted for another path."
Consider where the path has taken the state and county:
• The investigation has cost the Maricopa County Attorney's Office hundreds of thousands of dollars. Through April, special county attorney Mel McDonald and his law firm had been paid $260,000.
• The confirmation of Department of Corrections Director Dora Schriro was delayed pending the report's release. The Senate confirmed Schriro's appointment and adjourned May 26 without it.
• A judge, responding to a state request to quash the grand jury investigation, limited the scope of the probe to a criminal investigation. He told McDonald that he would need special permission to conduct an administrative review.
• McDonald never sought that permission. The grand jury produced no criminal indictments but drafted a lengthy report on the standoff.
• McDonald requested the report be made public on May 29.
• The Attorney General's Office, representing the state, questioned whether McDonald improperly expanded the scope of his inquiry and asked for 72 hours to review the report and respond if necessary.
• The Arizona Republic and the Associated Press filed a motion to intervene, seeking public release of the report and all supporting testimony, transcripts and documents.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Colin Campbell held a closed hearing Thursday after ordering the Attorney General's Office and McDonald to respond to questions about whether and how to release the report.
J.W. Brown, court communications director, said the judge will take his time.
"There is no deadline. . . . He has advised it is going to be a little while before there is a decision on this," Brown said.
The aftermath
The fight over the grand jury report and the legal issues surrounding it are the latest controversies in the 15-day standoff at Arizona State Prison Complex-Lewis. On Jan. 18, two inmates took over a guard tower and held two corrections officers hostage, including a female officer who was sexually assaulted. A male officer was injured and a female kitchen worker was raped during the ordeal.
The standoff ended Feb. 1 with the surrender of the hostage-taking inmates.
The aftermath has been fraught with political posturing, missteps and accusations.
Soon after the standoff ended Feb. 1, Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano appointed a blue-ribbon panel to examine how the standoff happened and what reforms could be made in the aftermath. But that panel was criticized because two of the three co-chairs were state employees: the governor's chief of staff and the director of the Department of Water Resources.
Republican legislative leaders seized the opportunity to call the governor to task, even though the third co-chair was former Republican Attorney General Grant Woods.
In the name of independence, they sought out a third party: Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley, a Republican who has said he may challenge Napolitano in 2006.
Romley, seeking to distance himself, appointed McDonald, former U.S. attorney, as a special county attorney to lead the investigation.
Sen. Bill Brotherton, D-Phoenix, said some of the political wrangling could have been avoided at the get-go had the governor allowed legislative input into the membership of the panel.
"I think the Republicans saw an opening there to go after the governor and the director (of corrections), but they did it in the incorrect manner," he said. "When you misuse a grand jury process that is supposed to be fair and nonpartisan, I think you are stepping over the line not only with those of us in public office but with citizens."
Rep. Bill Konopnicki, R-Safford, said he thinks the Legislature should have "reeled in" the investigation when a judge limited McDonald's probe to a criminal investigation.
"We should have said at that point, 'Let's not spend a lot of money on that' because that was not our intention," Konopnicki said. He said the legislators could have asked McDonald to lead a legislative investigation instead.
Grand jury secrecy
Bennett said Romley was summoned to give the investigation independence and because his budget included money to spend on it. Bennett said he did not understand at the time that the investigation would be conducted entirely before the grand jury, thus be subject to grand jury secrecy.
The judge's most recent public order seemed to question whether the process was used appropriately.
Woods said he believes the grand jury process was misused and McDonald should be censured. But he thinks the report - with a state response, if necessary - and supporting documents, should be made public.
"It is obvious that the process was misused, but given the amount of public dollars spent on it, it is difficult to rationalize not releasing the report to the public," he said.
Barnett Lotstein, special assistant county attorney, said it is very important that the report be made public because it was paid for with taxpayer dollars and produced after a citizen investigation by the grand jury. He disputes allegations the process was misused, maintaining it was appropriately used for a criminal investigation.
"For that report to be put in a drawer and hidden is absolutely inappropriate," he said.
McDonald declined to comment because of the secrecy of the grand jury process. The governor's spokeswoman, Jeanine L'Ecuyer, also declined to comment except to say that the governor does not oppose release of the grand jury report.
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http://www.azcentral.com/images/clear.gifhttp://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/gifs/breaking/0218prison-hos.jpg
Tom Tingle/The Arizona Republic
Ricky Wassenaar, left, and Steven Coy took two guards hostage in a tower at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Lewis in Buckeye.
Amanda J. Crawford
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 9, 2004 12:00 AM
http://www.azcentral.com/images/clear.gifhttp://www.azcentral.com/images2/grayrule.gif
Related link
• Special report: Prison hostage standoff >> (http://prison.azcentral.com/)
http://www.azcentral.com/images2/grayrule.gifThey say their intent was simple. Republican legislative leaders wanted an independent investigation into the nation's longest prison hostage standoff.
More than three months and hundreds of thousands of dollars later, the 181-page county grand jury report on the standoff has not been released to the public, and may not be.
The special prosecutor who led the investigation is facing allegations that he may have defied a judicial order and exceeded his mandate.
The whole investigation has come under fire as opponents challenge the impartiality of the review and worry that the grand jury process has been perverted.
Now, as the judge continues to weigh the issues surrounding the public release of the report, some legislators say they regret the decision to use a grand jury to investigate the standoff.
"I am totally dumbfounded at this point," Sen. Jim Weiers, R-Phoenix, said Tuesday. "The taxpayers paid for a product that hasn't been released."
Even the Senate president is second-guessing the move.
"Hindsight is always 20/20," said Sen. Ken Bennett, R-Prescott. "Had I been able to see the end of the path, sitting here wondering if we would have the report released . . . I would have opted for another path."
Consider where the path has taken the state and county:
• The investigation has cost the Maricopa County Attorney's Office hundreds of thousands of dollars. Through April, special county attorney Mel McDonald and his law firm had been paid $260,000.
• The confirmation of Department of Corrections Director Dora Schriro was delayed pending the report's release. The Senate confirmed Schriro's appointment and adjourned May 26 without it.
• A judge, responding to a state request to quash the grand jury investigation, limited the scope of the probe to a criminal investigation. He told McDonald that he would need special permission to conduct an administrative review.
• McDonald never sought that permission. The grand jury produced no criminal indictments but drafted a lengthy report on the standoff.
• McDonald requested the report be made public on May 29.
• The Attorney General's Office, representing the state, questioned whether McDonald improperly expanded the scope of his inquiry and asked for 72 hours to review the report and respond if necessary.
• The Arizona Republic and the Associated Press filed a motion to intervene, seeking public release of the report and all supporting testimony, transcripts and documents.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Colin Campbell held a closed hearing Thursday after ordering the Attorney General's Office and McDonald to respond to questions about whether and how to release the report.
J.W. Brown, court communications director, said the judge will take his time.
"There is no deadline. . . . He has advised it is going to be a little while before there is a decision on this," Brown said.
The aftermath
The fight over the grand jury report and the legal issues surrounding it are the latest controversies in the 15-day standoff at Arizona State Prison Complex-Lewis. On Jan. 18, two inmates took over a guard tower and held two corrections officers hostage, including a female officer who was sexually assaulted. A male officer was injured and a female kitchen worker was raped during the ordeal.
The standoff ended Feb. 1 with the surrender of the hostage-taking inmates.
The aftermath has been fraught with political posturing, missteps and accusations.
Soon after the standoff ended Feb. 1, Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano appointed a blue-ribbon panel to examine how the standoff happened and what reforms could be made in the aftermath. But that panel was criticized because two of the three co-chairs were state employees: the governor's chief of staff and the director of the Department of Water Resources.
Republican legislative leaders seized the opportunity to call the governor to task, even though the third co-chair was former Republican Attorney General Grant Woods.
In the name of independence, they sought out a third party: Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley, a Republican who has said he may challenge Napolitano in 2006.
Romley, seeking to distance himself, appointed McDonald, former U.S. attorney, as a special county attorney to lead the investigation.
Sen. Bill Brotherton, D-Phoenix, said some of the political wrangling could have been avoided at the get-go had the governor allowed legislative input into the membership of the panel.
"I think the Republicans saw an opening there to go after the governor and the director (of corrections), but they did it in the incorrect manner," he said. "When you misuse a grand jury process that is supposed to be fair and nonpartisan, I think you are stepping over the line not only with those of us in public office but with citizens."
Rep. Bill Konopnicki, R-Safford, said he thinks the Legislature should have "reeled in" the investigation when a judge limited McDonald's probe to a criminal investigation.
"We should have said at that point, 'Let's not spend a lot of money on that' because that was not our intention," Konopnicki said. He said the legislators could have asked McDonald to lead a legislative investigation instead.
Grand jury secrecy
Bennett said Romley was summoned to give the investigation independence and because his budget included money to spend on it. Bennett said he did not understand at the time that the investigation would be conducted entirely before the grand jury, thus be subject to grand jury secrecy.
The judge's most recent public order seemed to question whether the process was used appropriately.
Woods said he believes the grand jury process was misused and McDonald should be censured. But he thinks the report - with a state response, if necessary - and supporting documents, should be made public.
"It is obvious that the process was misused, but given the amount of public dollars spent on it, it is difficult to rationalize not releasing the report to the public," he said.
Barnett Lotstein, special assistant county attorney, said it is very important that the report be made public because it was paid for with taxpayer dollars and produced after a citizen investigation by the grand jury. He disputes allegations the process was misused, maintaining it was appropriately used for a criminal investigation.
"For that report to be put in a drawer and hidden is absolutely inappropriate," he said.
McDonald declined to comment because of the secrecy of the grand jury process. The governor's spokeswoman, Jeanine L'Ecuyer, also declined to comment except to say that the governor does not oppose release of the grand jury report.
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