Many thanks to our volunteer video editor, Chris DeYoung, a computer and data expert who works with the LD20 Data Team. Laura Conover spoke at the Labor Day meeting of Demcrats of Greater Tucson on September 5, 2022. She was elected as the Pima County Attorney in 2020. As the third woman to hold the Office, second defense attorney, and first victims’ rights attorney. She has made the news recently: • Former Tucson officer charged after fatally shooting a man in a wheelchair • Pima County attorney reverses course, won’t drop charges in Pioneer Hotel fire case • Laura Conover: What we’re doing [...]

Since launching an anti-fraud squad a year ago, Pima County Attorney Laura Conover has recovered nearly $1 million for local victims of housing, internet and financial scams. "Fraud attracts certain minds. It's so different from prosecuting violent crime," Conover said at a meeting of Democrats of Greater Tucson. "These prosecutors and investigators and staff get boxes and boxes of historical paperwork. And they've got to go through it with a fine-tooth comb to look for the patterns. 'Follow the money' is an easy phrase to use, but it's hard work." The Consumer Fraud Unit has 30 investigators, prosecutors and detectives [...]

The Maricopa County Attorney uses a "retaliation policy" to force defendants – including innocent people – to plead guilty immediately or face "substantially harsher" penalties before any evidence has been disclosed. The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit to halt the Policy for violating a person's right to due process and a trial. "This 'Retaliation Policy' coerces thousands of guilty pleas per year and violates the Constitution," according to the federal class action lawsuit, Luckey v. Adel. This text appears at the top of a form that prosecutors often send to defendants in Maricopa's Early Disposition Courts. [...]