TUCSON, Ariz.—In the matter of the 2024 prior conviction that has understandably garnered much attention, our prosecution team received the minimal paper file two evenings ago from our archives. We are now modernized on an online case management system, but what confidential notes are taken in a paper file are archived quickly and regularly. It was important to retrieve the file, because as previously stated, it seems not a single participant in that case from 2024 has an independent memory of the case. This is not surprising. Thousands of shots fired, shootings, and other gun cases are presented to our office every year.
That evening, Wednesday, I was briefed by the original prosecution team.
The file reveals that we had lost contact with the victim in the 2024 case. No efforts by the prosecution team or our victim services division were successful. Having lost this contact with the victim is a fact called “exculpatory evidence.” Translated: it’s a fact that the law says the defense is entitled to know about. Having lost contact with the victim would not make a trial impossible in this case, but perhaps quite difficult to win.
Every single day at the People’s Office we teach and preach to Do the Right Thing. I am incredibly proud that our prosecutor did just that. It appears it was a phone call from our prosecution team to the defense attorney that revealed our serious challenge with the loss of victim contact. And still, the defendant accepted responsibility and pled guilty. Despite this, we got the felony conviction and supervision. For me, it answers a lot of questions, though I had not doubted our extremely experienced veteran prosecutor and their decision making. The fact that we lost victim contact is also in the public record. Media had already reported that the Pre-Sentence Report, written by the Probation Department which is mandated to also try to locate the victim, states: “Written and telephonic attempts to contact the victim have been unsuccessful to date.”
Just as he did not participate in the sentencing, we may not have had this victim testifying at trial.
Yesterday after our gun safety panel with Gabby Giffords and the Mayor, I revealed this development to our three local TV stations that interviewed me after the event, asking me again about this 2024 case. I made statements about what I had learned the night before. Over 24 hours later, we can see that the stations reported some things I said, but not this development. Therefore, we are updating the public here. I won’t have anything further to say about this 2024 case. At this hour we are waiting on a jury on a first-degree murder case. Like another earlier this month, and another the month before that. We’ll send out news of all of those convictions next week. And, we now have a very serious case to prosecute from last Sunday downtown. We are focused on your health and safety, Old Pueblo. Do not fear: hate and click bait won’t distract us from your well-being. Not this week, not next, and not in the time we have left to serve you.
Laura Conover
Pima County Attorney
The Pima County Attorney’s Office is committed to restorative justice, transparency, and accountability as the focus of a mission that also seeks alternatives to incarceration when appropriate, provides support for victims, and strives to be inclusive and equitable to all segments of the communities we serve in the pursuit of public safety and well-being.
Media Contact: Shawndrea Thomas
Director of Communications
Pima County Attorney’s Office
(520) 724-5738 (Office)
(520) 310-4720 (Mobile)
Shawndrea.Thomas@pcao.pima.gov
