Maricopa County making policy changes for gun violence cases

PHOENIX (AP) — In an effort to reduce gun violence, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is making some policy changes to hold criminals more accountable.

Beginning today, prosecutors in the state’s largest county will have to offer plea deals to defendants that include a prison sentence if their crime involved the use of a firearm.

The firearm had to be actively used to facilitate a crime and the policy will not apply to defendants who were simply in possession of a gun when the crime was committed.

County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, who is seeking reelection in November, said her office received submittals for 16 homicide cases within a 10-day period last month and 15 of those cases involved a gun. In the past two weeks, authorities in Phoenix have confiscated 711 guns and made 525 gun-related arrests as part of a targeted crackdown.

“Keeping families and businesses safe is a priority for my office and this begins by holding dangerous offenders accountable,” Mitchell said in a statement Thursday. “The revision to our plea policies recognizes that these crimes will not be tolerated in Maricopa County.”