Former Sheriff Joe Arpaio appealed a judge’s ruling late Thursday that his contempt-of-court conviction must remain on his record despite President Trump’s pardon.
His lawyers have argued that Judge Susan R. Bolton goofed when she convicted him in the first place, and again when she refused to expunge the conviction after the pardon. They say the conviction wasn’t final because they’d asked for a new trial before a jury, and had avenues of appeal left to them.
They didn’t get to pursue those avenues because of Mr. Trump’s pardon.
Judge Bolton on Thursday rejected those arguments, saying that Mr. Arpaio, who served nearly a quarter-century as sheriff in Maricopa County, Arizona, had a choice of either rejecting the pardon or else accepting it — which means admitting guilt.
“The Court found Defendant guilty of criminal contempt. The President issued the pardon. Defendant accepted. The pardon undoubtedly spared Defendant from any punishment that might otherwise have been imposed. It did not, however, ’revise the historical facts’ of this case,” Judge Bolton wrote.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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