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Recent Articles from Jacques Billeaud, Associated Press
Prisoner disputes shelf life of Arizona’s execution drug
An Arizona death row prisoner, who would be among the state's first executions in almost seven years, has filed documents arguing the lethal injection drug to be used would expire sooner than prosecutors maintain and that makes it impossible to carry out his execution.
Pandemic cited by Arizona in bid to avoid contempt fine
Arizona corrections officials cited staffing and resource demands of the pandemic in trying to fend off a contempt of court fine against the state that could reach as high as $17 million for failing to follow through on promises in a legal settlement to improve health care for inmates.
State fined $1.1M over prison health care
A federal judge presiding over a legal settlement on the quality of health care in Arizona's prisons has imposed $1.1 million in contempt of court fines against the state for failing to follow through on its promises to improve inmate care.
Man who wore horns, hat apologizes for storming Capitol
An Arizona man who participated in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol while sporting face paint, no shirt and a furry hat with horns said he regrets storming the building, apologized for causing fear in others and expressed disappointment with former President Donald Trump.
Paul Petersen gets 6 years in adoption scheme
A former Arizona politician who admitted running an illegal adoption scheme in three states involving women from the Marshall Islands was sentenced in Arkansas to six years in federal prison.
Lawsuit seeks to ban Kanye West from Arizona ballot
An Arizona resident has asked a judge to bar Kanye West from appearing on the state's November 3 ballot, accusing the hip hop artist of serving as an election spoiler and arguing that a law prohibits him from running in the state as an independent presidential candidate.
1st death from the coronavirus surfaces in Arizona prisons
The first fatality from the coronavirus in Arizona's prisons came two weeks ago when a 64-year-old prisoner with diabetes died at a hospital in Tucson.
Arizona church sued over decades-old abuse allegations
Both lawsuits were brought Monday under a 2019 state law that extends the right of people who say they were abused as children to sue until their 30th birthday — a decade longer than before.
Arizona loses contempt appeal in prison health care case
A federal appeals court has upheld a 2018 contempt-of-court ruling against now-retired Arizona Corrections Director Charles Ryan for failing to follow through on promises in a legal settlement to improve health care for prisoners.
Petersen resigns
An elected official in metro Phoenix resigned Tuesday, months after being charged with running a human smuggling operation that paid pregnant women from the Marshall Islands to give up their babies in the U.S.
Judge asks whether prison health care deal should be tossed
A federal judge who has criticized Arizona's persistent noncompliance with a settlement requiring improvements to health care for prisoners has ordered lawyers for the state and inmates to decide whether they want to throw out the 5-year-old deal and instead bring the case to trial.
Inmates: Court should take control of health care in prisons
Inmates have asked a federal judge to take over health care operations in all state-run prisons in Arizona and appoint an official to run medical and mental health services due to the state's repeated failure to improve the care.
