Maricopa County Attorneys Impose Sanctions Against Former Gubernatorial Candidate Kari Lake and Her Lawyers for “Heinous and Extremely Harmful” Allegations That the November 2022 Election Was “Stealed.” I asked the judge to drop it.
In a request late Tuesday, the county’s acting attorney identified five “serious factual errors” made by Lake and attorneys prior to and during last week’s three-day trial. The lawyers have asked the judge to order Lake and the lawyers to pay the fine, but the amount is left to the court to decide.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson on Monday conceded the victory of Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs in November. Rejected Lake’s claim Improper signature verification and cheating affected the results.
If Thompson agrees to the sanctions order, he will be the second court to comply with the sanctions order in Mr. Lake’s six-month legal effort to overturn the loss against Hobbes.
End of the saga? Judge rules against Kari Lake, recognizes Katie Hobbs as Arizona governor in election signature verification trial
Earlier this month, the Arizona Supreme Court fined Lake’s attorney $2,000 for repeated fraud. ‘Clearly false’ statement in court. Mr. Thompson once refused to sanction Mr. Lake’s lawyers after the first trial in December, but he ordered Mr. Lake to be sanctioned. pay $33,000 to cover the costs of Hobbes’ expert witnesses.
According to the latest sanctions request, Mr. Lake’s lawyers — Brian Brem of Scottsdale and Kurt Olsen of Washington, D.C. — continued to make false claims after the Supreme Court’s recommendation.
Other defendants named by Lake in the lawsuit, Hobbes and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, joined the county’s motion to uphold the sanctions. Together they argue to Lake and her lawyer:
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misrepresented the findings of Investigate Printer Problems Independently That plagued Maricopa County on Election Day.
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He erred in earlier testimony from Election Commissioner Scott Jarrett and claimed to have lied in court, a claim that had already been ruled without merit in three courts.
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“Present uncertainty as certainty” in claiming that 8,000 votes were wrongfully rejected from the tally, but the court has previously said this was not supported by the evidence.
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Pushed the “frivolous” allegation that Maricopa County failed to verify signatures on early ballots. Lake’s own witnesses testified last week that they were part of the process
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He “engaged in blatant efforts to deceive” judges by claiming that the election was “rigged,” without even attempting to corroborate his claims at trial or by questioning witnesses.
The county sanctions request, signed by Civil Affairs Commissioner Tom Liddy, states that “Lake and his attorneys were involved in a scheme to deliberately and repeatedly make false factual errors to mislead this court.” “This conduct is clearly unethical and warrants sanctions from this Court.”
In a three-page response Wednesday, Brehm argued that the county’s sanctions complaint should be dismissed because it fell outside the scope of Thompson’s ruling granting the county a cost claim by Tuesday evening. Thompson responded by giving Lake’s team until Thursday to comply with the sanctions request.
Sanctions are court-ordered deterrence measures for malicious or unethical conduct. These include monetary fines and may act as a form of public disciplinary action against attorneys.
Lake, the former TV news anchor and first nominee in 2022, promised: appeal the loss in her recent lawsuit. On Tuesday, hours before the county sought sanctions in court over the team’s false allegations, Lake joined the allegations at a press conference, pledging to appeal to the Supreme Court and running for the 2024 Senate election. suggested that
She announced an effort to register voters and track mail-in ballots, but provided few details about the effort, noting that previous attacks on mail-in ballots were “used for that purpose.” erroneously claimed.steal our votes” in the 2020 election.
“I know how I feel about mail-in ballots, but if this is the game we have to play, we have to work with their fraud system,” Lake told reporters on Tuesday. If so, we will also work in their fraudulent system,” he told reporters.
Please contact Stacey Barchenger at stacey.barchenger@arizonarepublic.com or 480-416-5669.please follow her twitter @sbarchenger.
This article originally appeared in the Republic of Arizona. Maricopa County Attorneys Seek Sanctions Against Kari Lake
