#WeekInJustice: Week 169
The theme this week is one of heaviness but also a sense of pride in our ability as an agency to support our partners and ultimately to produce high quality work. On Monday, our City shut down to help lay to rest a rising star TPD Officer who lost his life while responding to a call. PCAO made so clear throughout the day that our people remain a constant source of support, warmth, and comfort, during the most difficult of times. I am grateful to the staff’s show of support.
On Tuesday, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled in a matter of statutory interpretation that an 1864 near total abortion ban is still the law of the land.
- We have been given a remand, and our Civil Chief Sam Brown and I have remained in constant contact with the AG’s Office, Planned Parenthood, and the Public Rights Project. Leadership requires the humility to know that when life hands you the fate of statewide healthcare, you reach out to national subject matter experts, and I am so lucky and grateful to have been able to do that. The best legal minds in the nation helped keep care going the last two years and can hopefully prolong care down the stretch to November.
On Wednesday, a sentence of natural life was handed down in Isabel Celis’s homicide case.
- I am so grateful to Tracy Miller, Chris Ward, Colleen Phelan, and a massive team, and I shared the following:
- “We do not take lightly a request for a sentence of natural life, because in effect we are asking for a sentence of death at the conclusion of incarceration. But there are times when we do ask for just such a sentence, as we did today. And in achieving that goal, this individual can bring no further harm to our community.”
On Thursday, I spent six straight hours with national experts on another topic: pre-planning to keep our election cycle as free and fair and safe as possible.
- I met the legal team that successfully won the injunction in Maricopa County in a key voter intimidation case.
And today, I send the Old Pueblo my best and suggest that we rest.
To be continued,
Laura
