A federal judge shot down Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s request to have his criminal conviction wiped from his record on Thursday, according to the Arizona Daily Star.
Judge Susan Bolton told Arpaio that President Trump couldn’t erase the conviction, even though she has already dismissed Arpaio’s contempt of court case after President Donald Trump pardoned Arpaio in August.
“The power to pardon is an executive prerogative of mercy, not of judicial record-keeping,” she said. “The pardon undoubtedly spared (the) defendant from any punishment that might otherwise have been imposed. It did not, however, revise the historical facts of this case.”
Arpaio was found guilty of contempt of court in July for racially profiling against Latinos while serving as county sheriff in Maricopa County in Arizona. Arpaio was an early Trump supporter and the President said he was treated “unbelievably unfairly.”
Trump pardoned the former sheriff on Aug. 25. Before the pardon, Arpaio was planning to appeal the conviction, which his attorney said he thinks he would have won.
Arpaio is set on getting the conviction removed from his record and filed a notice of appeal Thursday in the U.S. district court in Arizona.
New filing in United States v. Arpaio: Notice of Appealhttps://t.co/2LIf6LQ7tw pic.twitter.com/T9THNUIFzg
— Big Cases Bot (@big_cases) October 20, 2017
There’s a wonderful irony here. If Trump had not pardoned Arpaio, he might have won his case on appeal (unlikely, but possible). That would have given him a clean record. But since Trump pardoned him, his status as a convicted felon remains. I like it.
This is a small victory I will accept gladly.
Racist trash.
“Convicted felon Joe Arpaio.” I like it. Almost as much as I would like to see “Convicted felon Donald Trump.”
Trump and all of his stooges now realize that he will have to preemptively pardon the entire battalion of American Quislings (which include himself, family members, Rudy Giuliani and his Attorney General ) before their cases reach conviction.
A small amount of justice in this travesty is welcomed. Arpaio’s reputation, such as it is, stands.