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Two Cochise County supervisors facing felony charges for allegedly trying to interfere with the certification of the county's midterm elections recently filed documents in court that provide a glimpse into the secret grand jury interviews that led to their indictments.

The filing by Supervisors Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd, two Republicans on the board, lays out how state prosecutors investigated the supervisors' maneuver and the alleged Republican conspiracy to expand hand-counting audits of election results by counties. It is clear that he was trying to connect. delaying or preventing the certification of county election results;

The document cites detailed grand jury interviews and provides a view of the proceedings, which must be kept private under state law. The filings were originally public records, but are no longer publicly available because the state requested they be sealed. Votebeat obtained them from local independent journalist David Morgan before they were sealed.

Mr. Crosby answered the grand jury's questions in detail, while Mr. Judd invoked his Fifth Amendment rights and did not answer any questions, according to the documents.

Crosby also blamed Democratic Supervisor Anne English, who was then board chair, for the board's failure to vote on the Nov. 28, 2022 deadline for county campaigning and election certification. She didn't put the right topics on the agenda, she said. “I'm not late,” Crosby told jurors, according to court filings, adding: “Ann English caused the delay. She misjudged what was supposed to happen on the 28th.” ” he said.

According to meeting minutes, the topic was certifying the election, just as it had been 10 days earlier when Crosby and Judd first voted in favor of delaying the vote. However, the items did not contain what Crosby had requested. Before the vote, Crosbie asked regulators to hear formal discussions between the Secretary of State's office and “experts” on voting machines. Mr. English said in an interview Thursday that as chairman, he did not create the meeting agenda, but that the board's secretary did.

After hearing from Votebeat that these two filings, which provide short snippets of the 293-page grand jury transcript, were already in the public domain, a spokesperson for Attorney General Chris Mays said Thursday that the agency is He said he plans to request disclosure of the entire investigation report. Grand jury proceedings are open to the public. Mr. Mays, a Democrat, launched an initial investigation that led to the indictment of the regulator.

Request that the case be sent back to the grand jury

A grand jury indicted Mr. Crosby and Mr. Judd in November on one count of conspiracy and one count of interfering with election officials, alleging that they conspired to delay the canvassing of votes and the Arizona Secretary of State's ability to complete the election. He claimed that he had intentionally interfered. A statewide canvas. Both men pleaded not guilty at arraignment in December. A trial is scheduled for May 16th.

Mr. Crosby Motion to dismiss the case It was filed earlier this month, with Judd joining in and providing lead defense. They believe state law gives them legal immunity from prosecution for conversations and votes in supervisors' meetings. This is because supervisors serve as the county's legislative body. The legislative exemption is intended to, and has historically, applied to state legislators, but Crosby and Judd said it also applies to county employees.

They also deny any wrongdoing, arguing that the obligation to certify election results is discretionary. “There is no conspiracy or any illegal activity by regulators who have voted their conscience,” Crosby said in a written statement.

But if the judge decides not to dismiss the case, Crosby and Judd in recent documents are asking the judge to instead send the case back to a grand jury, saying they were not afforded a fair process.

Witnesses called to the grand jury during the two-day trial in November included Crosby, Judd, a special agent in the attorney general's office, and County Attorney Brian McIntyre, according to Judd's filing. . According to Judd's filing, the 293-page minutes have not been made public, at least for now.

Supervisors say states should have informed grand juries of what they believe about supervisors' legislative immunity and should better inform juries about the law regarding supervisors' roles in certifying elections. I think it was. Judd also said the state failed to properly inform grand jurors of their Fifth Amendment rights.

Their other major complaint was with McIntyre's testimony, which they felt was arbitrary and should not be admitted as evidence. McIntyre, a Republican, recommended in November 2022 that regulators not expand head count audits and certify elections by the deadline.

During grand jury proceedings, Mr. Crosby argued that the state was trying to “further unsubstantiated conspiracy theories that the headcount investigation was done to deliberately thwart the Secretary of State's plans.” and permitted misleading testimony regarding purpose (below).'' There is an obligation to campaign for elections. ”

Crosby claims that McIntyre gave testimony before the grand jury filled with “baseless opinions about the law that sought to smear my client.”

McIntyre did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Richie Taylor, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, said the attorney general's office declined to comment on the documents.

From manual counting to authentication

State prosecutors and grand jurors asked witnesses a number of questions about how efforts to expand counties' post-election hand-count audits of ballots unfolded.

Cochise County supervisors have come under pressure from Republican leaders and activists to do a complete hand count of ballots, claiming without evidence that vote tabulation machines are inaccurate or not properly certified. He was one of many supervisors in the state.

The judge ruled on Nov. 7, the day before the election, that post-election audits under state law only include a portion of the ballots, so supervisors and recorders cannot count all the ballots by hand. It was decided that However, supervisors still wanted to expand the hand count even after the judges' decision and took steps to prepare.

On Nov. 14, Mr. Crosby and Mr. Judd filed a lawsuit against election official Lisa Mara for blocking the expanded vote count without holding a public vote. Residents filed complaints about open meetings laws with the attorney general's office, arguing that the decision should have been made by public vote.

Expanding hand-count audits at a time when election officials are preparing for an expected statewide recount and the deadline for supervisors to certify the election in two weeks is an important step for counties to certify in time. may have become difficult. .

Crosby implied that the supervisor's hand count decision was what led to the conspiracy charges being brought before the grand jury. In his filing, he argued that the state used witnesses to inform the grand jury of the “absolutely ridiculous (and in itself misleading) 'conspiracy' theory that efforts to expand staffing amounted to a conspiracy to thwart the Director.” ” he said. The state's obligation to campaign for statewide elections is simply a matter of how long it would theoretically take to expand the numbers. ”

Mr. Crosby disclosed new details about that period in his filing, stating that Mr. Crosby and Mr. Judd, without speaking to each other, contemporaneously and both independently represented attorneys chosen by the board to represent them. , claimed to have independently decided to consult Brian Brehm. He agreed to file a lawsuit against Mara.

He wrote, “I'm counting on you.” [his attorney Bryan] Mr. Brehm has a duty to advise the Board of any possible misconduct. Brehm is a former family law attorney who began working in election law in 2021, the year before the midterm elections, representing partisan cyber ninjas. He “audited” Maricopa County's 2020 ballots.

Mr. Crosby and Mr. Judd withdrew their lawsuit against Mr. Mara on November 16, two days after filing.

They then voted on Nov. 18 to postpone the county's certification of election results, also known as canvassing, until Nov. 28. At the time, Judd said he hoped to uphold 100% hand-counting of ballots. Mr. Crosby voted to uplift the election results and postpone the vote until the accreditation of the tabulation machines was “confirmed by experts in the field.”

After regulators again refused to certify Canvas on Nov. 28, the Secretary of State's Office filed a lawsuit. December 1st: Court enforces supervisor Must be certified before the Secretary of State's deadline to certify statewide results. However, Mr. Crosby did not appear on December 1, leaving Mr. Judd and Mr. English to cast the decisive “yes” vote for certification.

Recent filings do not reveal the full details of the grand jury interview.

With the release of these documents, Taylor of the Attorney General's Office said, “This means that the entire grand jury transcript should be made public, and we will work toward that.'' “I intend to do so,” he said.

Taylor said there is no immediate plan for when that will happen.

Jen Fifield is a Votebeat reporter based in Arizona. Contact Jen: jfifield@votebeat.org.