Nearly nine years after four people were killed in Casa Grande, a visiting Maricopa County Superior Court judge has ruled that Pinal County prosecutors and judges cannot continue handling the capital cases against Alec Xavier Perez and Rodney Ortiz Jr., according to tucson.com.
Judge Patricia Starr issued the order Aug. 12 and disqualified the entire Pinal County Attorney’s Office from prosecuting the case. She also removed Pinal County Superior Court from the proceedings, saying the circumstances could leave the cases appearing unfair even though she did not find misconduct by prosecutors, judges or anyone else.
Starr said the “only workable solution” was for another county attorney’s office to take over the prosecution and for a new judge from another county to be appointed. Pinal County Attorney Brad Miller said his office would seek a stay of the ruling while it pursues special action review before the Arizona Court of Appeals.
The judge’s decision focused largely on questions surrounding Matthew Long, a former Pinal County prosecutor who was appointed to represent Perez in 2017. Starr found that Long represented Perez for more than seven years without meeting the legal qualifications to serve as lead counsel in a capital case, and she said later lawsuits and a notice of claim added to the appearance-of-fairness concerns.
Starr also said the two death-penalty cases are too closely connected to separate the conflict issues, noting they share many of the same witnesses, participants and facts. As of Aug. 17, it was not clear who would take over the prosecutions or the judges’ roles if the ruling remains in place.
