Court official told staff to keep citizenship off records (AZ)

PHOENIX (AP) — A Maricopa County court official told staff to stop asking inmates for their immigration status despite a constitutional amendment that denies bail for illegal immigrants accused of serious crimes, according to a newspaper investigation.

Penny Stinson, a Superior Court pretrial services director, made the order Nov. 17, shortly before the amendment took effect.

“Due to recent changes in the legislation and the liberty interest implications, we will no longer be asking defendants any questions regarding their citizenship,” Stinson wrote in an e-mail obtained by the East Valley Tribune.

Stinson tagged the e-mail high importance and “EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY” and sent it to 19 staff members. The message was copied to Commissioner Sheila Madden, whose job is to set bail for defendants in their first appearances before a judge.

In a second e-mail on March 19, Stinson reminded her staff of the directive and instructed them not to record any immigration information on paperwork.

“Please remember that we do not ask defendants any questions regarding their citizenship,” Stinson wrote.

This e-mail was circulated four days after a paperwork error led to the release of an illegal immigrant who is now wanted in a fatal stabbing last week in Mesa.

Police say Ruben Perez Rivera killed his cousin Tuesday night when he found the man with his ex-girlfriend. Under the terms of the law mandated by Prop. 100, Perez should have been in jail at the time of the stabbing while awaiting trial on felony charges of kidnapping and assaulting the ex-girlfriend on March 4.