Sunday, June 27, 2010

A Good Time in Badyear, Arizona ... umh ... Bad Time in Goodyear, Arizona!

Well, the police are at it again in Arizona in what seems to be a relentless and ignorant attack on court officers (process servers) in Maricopa County. In an outrageous case in Goodyear, Arizona, a process server was threatened with arrest for harassment and trespassing simply because she was trying to do her job for the court by serving process on a married couple who did not want to get served.

Apparently in Goodyear all a person needs to do to successfully avoid service is scream and cuss at the process server (again an officer of the Superior Court of Arizona) and then call the police and say that they feel harassed and that the process server is trespassing. The police will then interfere and prevent the process from being served, all the while issuing a veiled threat of arrest.

It does not matter to the police that the defendants have no legal right to refuse service. They would rather assist the scofflaw defendants in avoiding service, rather than assist the court by helping the process server perform her lawful duty. Aren't the courts and the police on the same side?  It sounds like the Jeff Showen case all over again, only now in Goodyear instead of Scottsdale. Please click to view Andi Hillis's letter written May 24, 2010 to the Goodyear chief of police and the letter of response from the Goodyear Police Department.

Andi Hillis letter
Goodyear Police letter

Please notice in Goodyear's letter that reference was made to a "Superior Court Appellate overturning [of] a Scottsdale Municipal Court ruling..." This obviously is a reference to the Star case from 1985.

State of Arizona vs. Douglas B. Star (Case LC1987-00135).

Did Goodyear and their attorneys actually read it, since the case originated from Paradise Valley and not Scottsdale! And it seems, if it is convenient, a Superior Court judge ruling can be ignored and scoffed at by the police department or city attorneys since it does not rise to the level of case law (not being a ruling from the Appeals Court or the Supreme Court). That strikes one as being rather arrogant and contemptuous of the judicial system. But, it's not a surprise here in Arizona with the cowboy mentality of the police.

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