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, the commission's two Republicans, alleges that state prosecutors are trying to explain the supervisors' ploy to expand hand-tally audits of county election results. It has been revealed how the government attempted to link the incident with an alleged conspiracy to delay or hinder the development of the government. After being certified.

The documents cite detailed grand jury interviews and provide 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 exercised his Fifth Amendment rights and did not answer any questions, according to the documents.

Crosby also criticized Democratic Supervisor Anne, who was the board president at the time, for the board's failure to vote on the Nov. 28, 2022 deadline for county campaign and election certification. She blamed Mr. English and said she did not vote. Place the correct agenda item on the agenda. “I wasn't 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. Ahead of 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 himself, but rather that the board's secretary created it.

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

Request that the case be sent back to the grand jury

A grand jury indicted Crosby and Judd in November. One count of conspiracy and one count of interference with election officials alleges they conspired to delay the canvassing of votes and intentionally interfered with the Arizona Secretary of State's ability to complete a statewide election. Both men pleaded not guilty at arraignment in December. A trial is scheduled for May 16th.

Crosby's 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 at the Board of Supervisors meetings because they serve as the county's legislative body. The legislative exemption is intended to apply to state legislators, and has historically applied, 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. Crosby said in his filing that there was “no wrongdoing, let alone any conspiracy by the supervisors who voted their conscience.”

But if the judge decides not to dismiss the case, Crosby and Judd in recent filings 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. It was included. According to Judd's filing, the 293-page minutes are private, at least for now.

The regulators said the state should have informed the grand jury of what they believed about the regulator's legislative immunity and should have better informed the jury about the law regarding the regulator's role in certifying elections. thinking. 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 the grand jury proceedings, Crosby said the state was using “the head count investigation to further the unsubstantiated conspiracy theory that the head count investigation was done to deliberately interfere with the Secretary of State's duties in the courtroom.” “Misleading testimony regarding the nature and purpose of numbers (described below).'' election. “

Crosby claims that McIntyre's grand jury testimony was filled with “baseless opinions about the law that sought to smear his 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 document.

From manual counting to authentication

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

Cochise County supervisors have come under pressure from Republican leaders and activists to conduct 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 issued the ruling the day before the election.said Nov. 7 that supervisors and recorders could not manually count every ballot cast because post-election audits under state law include only a portion of the ballots. Ta. However, the supervisors still wanted to expand the hand count even after the judges' decision, and took steps to prepare.

on November 14, without holding a public vote to do so. Crosby, Judd sues campaign director Lisa Mara To block an expanded number of hands. 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 were preparing for an expected statewide recount, and with the deadline for regulators to certify the election in two weeks, would have caused counties to miss deadlines. It may have become difficult to certify by now.

Mr. Crosby implied that the supervisor's decision to count was what led to the conspiracy charges being brought before the grand jury. In his filing, he said the state used witnesses to tell a grand jury “a truly absurd (and in itself misleading) 'conspiracy' that the effort to expand staffing amounted to a conspiracy to obstruct the duties of the Secretary of State.” He said he presented a theory. They are calling for a statewide election simply because 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 that he was “relying on me.” [his attorney Bryan] Mr. Brehm is obligated to report to the board of directors about possible misconduct. ” Brehm, a former family law attorney, began working in election law in 2021, the year before the midterm elections, and represented the Cyber ​​Ninjas in a partisan “audit” of 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 wanted 100% of the ballots hand counted to confirm the election. Mr. Crosby voted to postpone the vote until the accreditation of the tallying machines was “confirmed by experts in the field.”

After second refusal by supervisor On November 28th, the Secretary of State's office filed a lawsuit to certify the canvas again. December 1st: Court enforces supervisor To certify statewide results before the Secretary of State's deadline to certify them. 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.