By Staff Reporter |

Even with an ever-widening political divide yielding highly disparate views of Attorney General Kris Mayes, most may agree that she has kept to her campaign promises, especially with the indictment of those Republicans who challenged the 2020 and 2022 election results. 

Securing back-to-back indictments for two highly contentious elections in what amounts to just over her first year in office didn’t come cleanly. Mayes had to break some eggs in the process. 

Late last year, the State Bar began an ongoing investigation into Cochise County Attorney Brian McIntyre over allegations that he colluded with Mayes and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes against his own county supervisors, a blatant violation of attorney-client privilege. 

McIntyre’s alleged collusion was outlined in a letter that surfaced recently amid that investigation, as reported by The Arizona Daily Independent.

In that letter, McIntyre had requested Mayes to retract the opinion set by her predecessor, Mark Brnovich, on expanded hand counts, a request made while his clients were actively appealing for their ability to conduct those hand counts. Mayes did just that. 

The same month that the State Bar began to investigate McIntyre, Mayes secured indictments against Cochise County Supervisors Peggy Judd and Tom Crosby for delaying certification of the 2022 election results. The pair were hit with felony-level election interference and conspiracy charges. 

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Geoffrey Fish heard oral arguments in their case last month. Counsel for Crosby argued in court that Mayes was a “rogue prosecutor” leading a “rogue prosecution” attempting to read motives into Judd and Crosby’s actions amid the 2022 election. 

Assistant Attorney General Todd Lawson told the judge that Judd and Crosby were in on “an overall conspiracy, a larger plan” aimed at chaos with the ultimate goal to “obstruct the election.” Lawson disputed that Judd and Crosby, much less any other county supervisor, had the right to do any more to review election results than simply pass along the vote tallies to the secretary of state.

That sentiment drove, in part, the indictments against President Donald Trump’s 2020 electors and their conspirators. 18 were hit with felony charges of conspiracy, fraud, and forgery last month: Kelli and Michael Ward, Tyler Bowyer, Nancy Cottle, State Senators Jake Hoffman and Anthony Kern, Jim Lamon, Robert Montgomery, Samuel Moorhead, Lorraine Pellegrino, Gregory Safsten, Christina Bobb, John Eastman, Jenna Ellis, Boris Epshteyn, Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, and Mike Roman. 

According to a new report from Politico featuring anonymous tipsters, these indictments were unprecedented and even rang of the “rogue” characterization.

Some of those indicted were promised repeatedly by prosecutors that they were not the subject of investigation, least of all charges: Bobb and Ellis among them. And yet, the grand jury indicted both. 

A grand jury will only indict those who are presented by prosecutors as potential defendants. Nonetheless, Mayes’ office told Politico that responsibility lay with the jury for the indictments. 

“The State Grand Jury was given leeway to conduct an independent investigation, as it is entitled to do by law,” said Mayes’ spokesperson, Richie Taylor. “I cannot confirm or deny the specifics of grand jury proceedings, and I will note that the investigation remains open and ongoing. I will have to decline to comment further.”

Multiple high-level prosecutors concurred to Politico that the indictments were “unusual” and “bad form.” They questioned the claims by prosecutors that they were unaware of plans to bring up Bobb and Ellis to the grand jury. 

The merit of the prosecutors’ claims earned further scrutiny after they ordered witnesses pleading the Fifth to appear before the grand jury at the jurors’ request. The prosecutors could’ve excused those witnesses, as is customary and even recommended by the Justice Department; instead, they forced them to face questioning and risk the possibility of appearing guilty by remaining silent.

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