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
