Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk announced Friday that she is retiring after a long career that included a high-profile trial in a deadly sweat lodge ceremony and an aggressive campaign against synthetic drugs.

Although several measures aimed at cutting prison sentences and making other major changes to Arizona’s criminal justice system have passed the House this year, the big question is whether these bills will make it through the Senate or even get a hearing there.

State lawmakers took the first steps February 3 to reversing decades of tough-on-crime policies.

Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk is on track to defeat embattled former lawmaker David Stringer, fending off her first challenger since 2000 and remaining as the top prosecutor in that county for another four years. She currently has 69% of ...

Embattled former Rep. David Stringer, who was forced to resign last year over criminal charges that he sexually molested children in Baltimore in 1983 were reported, has filed to run for the Yavapai County Attorney’s Office.

Former Attorney General Tom Horne, who was hounded by allegations of illegal coordination throughout his unsuccessful bid for re-election in 2014 and faced a $400,000 fine, has been absolved of wrongdoing by Cochise County Attorney Brian McIntyre.

Attorneys for former Attorney General Tom Horne and a former aide urged the Arizona Court of Appeals to overturn a $400,000 fine for campaign finance violations on the grounds that Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk violated their due process rights by serving a dual role as both the decision-making in the enforcement action and the prosecutor in their court case.

A Maricopa County Superior Court judge rejected efforts by Attorney General Tom Horne to reverse a determination that he violated state campaign finance laws in his 2010 election.

Attorney General Tom Horne said he does not believe the renewed charges he violated campaign finance laws in getting his office will undermine his bid for reelection.

An administrative law judge scheduled three days of hearings in January for the campaign coordination case against Attorney General Tom Horne and Kathleen Winn, who ran an independent expenditure campaign to assist Horne’s campaign during the 2010 election.