Former Apache County Prosecutor, wife, asks the judge to dismiss some charges for serious crimes

Phoenix (azfamily) – The former Apache County Prosecutor, Michael Whiting, and his wife, Joy, the Superintendent of the School, appeared in the Maricopa County Court, where they asked a judge to dismiss some of the most serious positions they face.

Michael, Joy and Michael Daryl Greer’s principal investigator were loaded with Use of taxpayers money and threaten a political opponent in August.

For almost three hours on Friday, Judge Daniel Martin listened to arguments of Whiting and State lawyers. They argued that the prosecutors of evidence presented the Grand Jury to obtain that accusation was misleading.

It all started in June when the investigators of the State Attorney General’s office raided Michael’s office and home.

Michael, the county prosecutor for a long time, is accused of buying gymnastics equipment and t -shirts for an event for children along with threatening his wife’s political opponent. After receiving a letter of 190 pages by mail, that opponent left the race for the School Superintendent.

Joy is accused of using almost a quarter of his budget ($ 80,000) in a SUV that Michael used.

His lawyers argued that the AG office does not understand how Apache County works. They said it is a small county and that the departments share things like vehicles.

“It is not just an isolated problem, it is a systemic problem and that is really unfortunate here because when you combine all this, the grand jury does not have a fair appreciation not only an account, but not everyone passes the smell test,” said Bruce Griffen, Michael’s lawyer.

“This is not personal. The State is simply doing its job. Like the defense is doing its job. I am not sure why it would come here and I would say that the State is only doing this for the game, again this is not personal, “said Catherine Ferguson-Gilbert, one of the prosecutors.

Ferguson-Gilbert said that the evidence they presented to the Grand Jury was the last and best information they had.

She explained that they also had a forensic accountant to review the books.

Greer brought a guilt in February. As part of that, he admitted to threatening and harassing a political candidate in the direction of his boss. That included “surveillance” about the candidate and help Michael send that letter urging him to leave the race. He was sentenced to a year of probation.

As part of an agreement with the State Bar Association, Michael The law license was suspended. In Arizona, he must have a license with a good reputation to be a county prosecutor. The County Supervisors Board voted to vacate the position at the end of last year.

Judge Martin said he would take all the information into account when issuing his decision.

The next court date is scheduled for March 28. It was then that a trial date could be decided.

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