After President Donald Trump issued a pardon for former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the district court judge overseeing the case has approved Arpaio’s request to cancel his sentencing hearing.
But Judge Susan Bolton hasn’t completely thrown out the conviction, Arizona Central reported.
Arpaio was set to face sentencing in October for his criminal contempt-of-court conviction for ignoring a court order to stop holding people solely on suspicion of being undocumented.
Friday evening, the White House announced that Trump had granted a pardon for the controversial ex-sheriff who has been a Trump supporter since the early days of his campaign.
On Tuesday, Bolton ordered that Arpaio and the Department of Justice, which is prosecuting the case, file a memo on why the case should or shouldn’t be thrown out.
She scheduled an oral argument hearing for both sides to make their case on Oct. 4, which is one day before Arpaio was supposed to be sentenced.
“We look forward to the hearing, and hope that the court will make the appropriate ruling,” one of Arpaio’s attorneys, Mark Goldman, said.
The judge’s move comes just one day after Arpaio’s attorneys called out media companies for reporting that the ex-sheriff was convicted of racial profiling. They said the conviction had nothing to do with race.
