The adult son of outgoing U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake will seek a new civil trial against a candidate seeking to replace Flake — Joe Arpaio — based on allegations that the then-sheriff brought a trumped-up criminal case against him in the deaths of 21 dogs at an Arizona kennel.
Austin Flake and his ex-wife lost a malicious-prosecution lawsuit against Arpaio at a trial in December. But their attorney, Stephen Montoya, said he will seek another trial because authorities failed to turn over key evidence that he contends would have swayed the jury in his client’s favor.
The lawsuit stems from animal cruelty charges that were filed against Flake and his then-wife, Logan Brown, in the dogs’ 2014 heat-exhaustion deaths at a suburban Phoenix kennel owned by Brown’s parents. The Flakes were caring for the dogs while the in-laws were out of town.
The case against them was dismissed at the request of prosecutors after an expert determined an air conditioner at the kennel failed because the operators didn’t properly maintain it. The kennel owners eventually pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges.
Arpaio was the sheriff of metro Phoenix at the time. The lawsuit alleged he pursued the case to garner publicity for himself and to embarrass Jeff Flake, who disagreed with Arpaio over immigration and was critical of the movement questioning the authenticity of then-President Barack Obama’s birth certificate. – READ MORE
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