Republican nominee for Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne today made public a press release citing evidence that Ms. Rotellini has never tried a case; making her a
“PINO…Prosecutor in Name Only“.
How Ms. Rotellini feels eight (8) cases is sufficient to be considered the state’s top attorney is in itself a mystery. But that she thought the electorate so simple as to not question her skills in the area that is the very basic purpose of the AG’s office is staggering. On second thought, considering that Tery Goddard has refused to defend Arizona and she is a Goddard/Napolitano clone, it really isn’t so surprising.
PRESS RELEASE
September 14, 2010
For immediate release
HORNE: ROTELLINI HAS NEVER TRIED A CASE IN HER ENTIRE LIFE
PHOENIX— Republican Attorney General nominee Tom Horne today released a study demonstrating that Democrat
Felecia Rotellini, who touts herself as a “veteran prosecutor,” has in fact never tried a case in her entire life.
In January 1991 Horne was admitted to the American Board of Trial Advocates, which included the following requirement: that he has tried at least 25 cases as the lead lawyer to a jury to conclusion.
During the KAET Channel 8 debate last Wednesday, Horne suggested that Rotellini, by contrast, had few, if any, jury trials. Rotellini did not respond. The Arizona Republic did a Fact Check, and obtained information from Rotellini about her legal experience, which the Republic posted on its website. Rotellini cited eight cases. Volunteers for Horne then researched each of those eight cases, and it turned out that Rotellini did not proceed to trial on any one of the eight cases, and turned five of the six criminal cases over to another lawyer before they even went to a guilty plea.
Attached is the documentation as to each of the eight cases cited by Rotellini.
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Supplemental Information
No trial, to a Jury or to a Judge, occurred in any of the eight cases which the Rotellini campaign provided to the Arizona Republic in a failed attempt to demonstrate her legal experience.
In five of the six criminal cases Rotellini’s campaign listed which resulted in guilty pleas, none went to trial and she was not the attorney of record for the State at the time the case was pled out by a guilty plea. In five of those cases, another Assistant Attorney General had become the prosecutor before the defendant pled guilty. No trial occurred in the two civil cases she lists on her website and she was not the principal attorney for any party. She was merely the junior of the two attorneys who represented her client.
Rotellini’s eight cases posted on the Arizona Republic’s website are quoted below. Following each case listed by the Rotellini campaign is the actual summarized history of each case in brackets.
List of cases from Rotellini campaign spokesman Dave Cieslak:
In the following six cases, Felecia appeared before the Arizona State Grand Jury to obtain the indictments, then spent time in Maricopa County Superior Court:
- State v. William Crotts, Thomas Grabinski, Harold Friend, Lawrence Hoover, Richard Rolfus CR2001-006183 (Baptist Foundation criminal case and securities fraud). Referral from the Arizona Corporation Commission.”
[Felecia admits by the foregoing description that her role in the so-called Baptist Foundation case was limited to the grand jury indictment and "then [she] spent time in Maricopa County Superior Court.” She played no role in the trial at all. Another Assistant Attorney General was the prosecutor in the criminal trial which resulted in the convictions of two Baptist Foundation officers in August 2006. Ms. Rotellini withdrew from the case eight months earlier when she was appointed the Superintendent of the Department of Financial Institutions in January 2006. Ms. Rotellini’s role in the so-called Baptist Foundation case was in an administrative action role in which the Arthur Anderson CPA firm consented to pay restitution for its negligent accounting work performed for the Baptist Foundation, after it was clear that the Arthur Anderson CPA firm could not survive its negligent accounting for ENRON.]
“- State v. David Paul French and James Anthony Cicerella, CR2003-013117 (ponzi scheme; securities fraud). Referral from Arizona Corporation Commission.”
[No trial. Felecia admits above by the foregoing description that her role in this case was limited to the grand jury indictment, "then [she] spent time in Maricopa County Superior Court.” She was replaced as the prosecutor by Assistant Attorneys General Jeff Rueter and later Ed Noyes, who obtained the guilty plea resolving the case.]
“- State v. Manual A Perez, CR2003-013118 (fraud and theft, real-estate sales related). Referral from the Arizona Department of Real Estate.”
[No conviction; no trial; defendant fled. Felecia admits above by the foregoing description that her role in
this case was limited to the grand jury indictment, "then [she] spent time in Maricopa County Superior Court.” The major activity in the case was performed by a Deputy Maricopa County Attorney, Peter Spaw, who obtained forfeiture of the defendant’s bail bond after he fled.]
“-State v. Hal Fields, CR2003-024924 and CR2004-007688 (fraud and theft, real-estate related) Rreferral [sic] from the Arizona Department of Real Estate and HUD. ”
[No trial. Felecia admits above by the foregoing description that her role in this case was limited to the grand jury indictment, "then [she] spent time in Maricopa County Superior Court.” She was replaced as the prosecutor by Assistant Attorney General Ed Noyes, who obtained the guilty plea resolving the case.]
“-State v. Nora Elana Escobar, CR2004-012957 (identity theft). Referral from U.S. Postal Inspector.”
[No trial. Felecia admits above by the foregoing description that her role in this case was limited to the grand jury indictment, "then [she] spent time in Maricopa County Superior Court.” She was replaced as the prosecutor by Assistant Attorneys General Jacqueline Schesnol and later Ed Noyes, who obtained the guilty plea resolving the case.]
“-State v. Heidi Jo Jauger [sic], Richard E. Valentin, Julie Davis, CR2004-007689 (theft, embezzlement). Investigated by Attorney General’s Office.”
[No trial. Felecia admits above by the foregoing description that her role in this case was limited to the grand jury indictment, "then [she] spent time in Maricopa County Superior Court,” and she obtained the guilty plea resolving the case. The defendant’s name is Jaeger, not Jauger]
“The next two are civil cases in which Felecia argued in court: – Morton Roberts v. State, 179 Ariz. 613, 880 P.2d 1159 (App. 1994).”
[No trial. Felecia admits above by the foregoing description that her role in this case was limited to "Felecia argued in court." This was an administrative agency action, appealed to the County Superior Court then to the Court of Appeals, in which Ms. Rotellini was joined by another Assistant Attorney General, Leslie Hall.]
“- Milliken & Michaels of Arizona v. Houseworth, 942 F. Supp 454 (1996). – 28-day civil hearing before a judge, then Milliken and Michaels sued the state in federal court. In front of Judge Carroll for six months.”
[No trial. Felecia admits above by the foregoing description that her role in this case was limited to "Felecia argued in court." She was not the lead attorney for the State in the reported federal case; that was former Solicitor General for the Attorney General’s Office Anthony Ching.]
The law firm, Zwillinger & Greek, where Felecia practices law, lists on its website three reported cases evidencing her legal expertise, but her list sent to the Arizona Republic omits one of them, 1145 (Wyo. 1986). In that case, which was also not a trial, she was a legal intern, not admitted to practice yet. Neither she nor the attorney supervising her represented a party, but rather submitted an amicus (friend of the Court) brief in favor of the State.
Although the Western Union case was not listed on the list with the eight cases, her campaign website touts that successful case in support of her candidacy. However, in that case she was not the prosecutor or a litigator, but rather she was the client (as Superintendent of Department of Financial Institutions) in an administrative consent order obtained by Assistant Attorney General Craig Raby, and also assisted by at least six additional Assistant Attorneys General who actually litigated civil cases in state and federal court and investigated a criminal case against Western Union. Ms. Rotellini resigned her position as head of Department of Financial Institutions in August 2009 and in September 2009 announced her run for Attorney General, several months before the settlement was achieved.
O’Brien v. State of Wyoming, 711 P.2d
