NYT
A long-running dispute between a weekly newspaper in Phoenix and law enforcement officials took a series of sharp turns over the last two days, including the arrest of the newspaper owners, followed by the dismissal of charges against them and an investigation into their paper.
For years, prosecutors in Maricopa County weighed whether to take the rare step of charging the leaders of the paper, The Phoenix New Times, with a crime for publishing an article with the home address of Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County. This week, that conflict abruptly escalated.
On Thursday, the newspaper accused the authorities of abuses of power in their investigation into The New Times, reporting that a prosecutor had obtained a subpoena for the Internet browsing records on thousands of its readers.
On Thursday night, the two principal owners, Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin, were arrested and charged with illegally disclosing the inner workings of a grand jury, a misdemeanor.
But by late afternoon yesterday, it was all over. The owners were free, the charges against them were dropped, and the underlying investigation ended.
“It has become clear to me the investigation has gone in a direction I would not have authorized,” County Attorney Andrew P. Thomas said.
Mr. Thomas dismissed the new charges, the original investigation and the special prosecutor who was working on the case..........
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