I sent plenty of people to prison during my career as a judge. Now I’m working to get one man out, and not because I think he’s innocent.

I participated in hundreds of sentencing hearings in my 44-year career as a prosecutor and as a judge.

Most of the sentences imposed were within the range I thought reasonable given the crime committed and the defendant’s background. 

Occasionally, the law mandated an excessive sentence, which I had to impose.

By far the most egregious example of an excessive mandated sentence that I was ever required to impose came in 2007. The defendant, Carl Ray Buske, was a 47-year-old aviation mechanic with no criminal record other than a 15-year-old conviction for drug possession.

His offense: the possession of 29 printed images of child pornography.

I was required to sentence him to 290 years

Buske did not create the images, sell them or even share the images with anyone.

Yet Arizona law required that his sentence be not less than 10 years for each image, with each sentence to be consecutive to the others — that is, one stacked on top of the other — for a total of 290 years in prison. 

Like most people, I abhor child pornography. The possession of such images should be illegal and severely punished.

However, one of the guiding principles of our criminal justice system is that the punishment should be proportionate to and commensurate with the crime.

A sentence of 290 years in prison (a life sentence, in effect) for this conduct is not only disproportionate, it’s unconscionable. 

Average sentence in other states is about 5 years

This is not a question of guilt.

It is a question of whether the 17 years the convicted man has already spent in prison is an adequate penalty for his conduct.

To me, the obvious and inescapable answer is yes. This opinion is shared by eight other retired Pima County Superior Court judges who signed a petition in support of Buske’s application for commutation, seeking his release. 

It is further supported by the fact that federal law, unlike Arizona law, mandates no prison time and provides for a maximum sentence of 10 years for similar offenses.

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A 2022 Federal Sentencing Commission report found that the federal sentences imposed for possession of child  pornography for 1,435 defendants with profiles similar to Buske’s was an average of about five years.

It is astounding to realize that his sentence far exceeds the minimum sentence provided in Arizona law for many crimes involving serious violence and physical injury to the victim, such as second-degree murder (10 years), rape (seven years) and sexual assault of a child under 12 (13 years).

Arizona’s harsh sentencing scheme is out of step with all other states. In no other state would he have been exposed to as severe of a sentence as he received here. 

Child porn offenses rarely lead to escalated crime

Some worry about releasing those convicted of possessing child pornography, believing that they may graduate to sexual contact offenses. But this same Federal Sentencing Commission report found that for those convicted of non-production child pornography offenses, the overall sexual recidivism rate was 4.3% and for contact sex offenses it was 1.3%.

This is miniscule compared to the overall recidivism rate of 43% for all released federal prisoners and approximately 40% for all Arizona released state prisoners. 

The injustice of this sentence has haunted me for the 17 years since it was imposed.

It is an embarrassment to our criminal justice system. To rectify the injustice, I have been working with the University of Arizona Law School on an application for commutation of sentence, which is now pending before the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency.

The board represents the last chance for the Arizona criminal justice system to correct this injustice by recommending that the governor commute Buske’s sentence to time served.

Furthermore, if this injustice is not to be repeated, the Arizona Legislature must amend the mandatory sentencing law that allowed it to happen.

Both acts will require political courage. I hope that justice will not be sacrificed for political expedience.

John Leonardo is a retired Pima County Superior Court judge and a former assistant United States Attorney and United States Attorney for the District of Arizona.

PHOENIX (AP) — A judge will hear arguments Monday in a Phoenix courtroom over whether to throw out charges against Republicans who signed a document falsely claiming Donald Trump won Arizona in the 2020 election and others who are accused of scheming to overturn the presidential race’s outcome.

At least a dozen defendants are seeking a dismissal under an Arizona law that bars using baseless legal actions in a bid to silence critics. The law had long offered protections in civil cases but was amended in 2022 by the Republican-led Legislature to cover people facing most criminal charges.

The defendants argue Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes tried to use the charges to silence them for their constitutionally protected speech about the 2020 election and actions taken in response to the race’s outcome. They say Mayes campaigned on investigating the fake elector case and had shown a bias against Trump and his supporters.

Prosecutors say the defendants don’t have evidence to back up their retaliation claim and they crossed the line from protected speech to fraud. Mayes’ office also has said the grand jury that brought the indictment wanted to consider charging the former president, but prosecutors urged them not to.

In all, 18 Republicans were charged with forgery, fraud and conspiracy. The defendants consist of 11 Republicans who submitted a document falsely claiming Trump won Arizona, two former Trump aides and five lawyers connected to the former president, including Rudy Giuliani.

So far, two defendants have resolved their cases.

Former Trump campaign attorney Jenna Ellis, who worked closely with Giuliani, signed a cooperation agreement with prosecutors that led to the dismissal of her charges. Republican activist Loraine Pellegrino also became the first person to be convicted in the Arizona case when she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge and was sentenced to probation.

The remaining defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Former Trump presidential chief of staff Mark Meadows is trying to move his charges to federal court, where his lawyers say they will seek a dismissal of the charges.

Trump wasn’t charged in Arizona, but the indictment refers to him as an unindicted coconspirator.

In a filing, Mayes’ office said as grand jurors were considering possible charges, a prosecutor asked them not to indict Trump, citing a U.S. Justice Department policy that limits the prosecution of someone for the same crime twice. The prosecutor also didn’t know whether authorities had all the evidence they would need to charge Trump at that time.

Eleven people who had been nominated to be Arizona’s Republican electors met in Phoenix on Dec. 14, 2020, to sign a certificate saying they were “duly elected and qualified” electors and claimed Trump had carried the state in the 2020 election.

President Joe Biden won Arizona by 10,457 votes. A one-minute video of the signing ceremony was posted on social media by the Arizona Republican Party at the time. The document later was sent to Congress and the National Archives, where it was ignored.

Prosecutors in Michigan, Nevada, Georgia and Wisconsin have also filed criminal charges related to the fake electors scheme. Arizona authorities unveiled the felony charges in late April.

The Arizona Wildcats are one of the hardest teams to project in the country.

They have a couple of the best returning players on offense, but have undergone a coaching overhaul since last season.

That was reflected when David Hale of ESPN made his tier list, ranking each team in college football. The Wildcats found themselves in the fourth tier, which was deemed “a playoff berth or 7-5 is equally possible.”

While sitting in tier four might not sound too great on the surface, this is the list of teams joining them with that designation:

A few years ago, being in the conversation with those teams would be considered a major step forward for the program.

When Arizona hired San Jose State head coach Brent Brennan following Jedd Fisch’s departure for Washington, that created some question marks about how the Wildcats might look in the future. While Brenan didn’t turn the Spartans into a national powerhouse, he did have them consistently hovering above bowl eligibility, which was not the case before he took over there.

Upon his hiring at Arizona, he then brought in Dino Babers, fresh off a stint as head coach with the Syracuse Orange, to run his offense. Duane Akina was promoted from analyst to defensive coordinator this past offseason, so he’s at least been around the program before.

Despite all the turnaround, the stars stayed put with the Wildcats, which is where most of the excitement around the program lies.

Though the coaching staff isn’t bad, it doesn’t scream playoff contender on its own.

Quarterback Noah Fifita is one of the top returning passers in the country. He had 2,869 yards with 25 touchdowns and six interceptions through the air last season.

His top target at wide receiver, Tetairoa McMillan, is also back with the team. He’s widely considered one of the best players in the country at 6-foot-5 and still being a downfield threat.

Jacob Cowing, a 90-catch receiver, is gone to the NFL. That’s a lot of production that they’re going to need to replace.

The good news is that the running back room should be as good as it’s ever been with two solid transfers in Jacory Croskey-Merritt and Quali Conley.

The defense, which is undergoing a lot of changes on it’s own, should be good. The fate of this team, whether it be playoffs or bust, lies on the shoulders of the offense.