A Maricopa County Superior Court judge wants answers from the County Attorney's Office about whether prosecutors violated the law by using a confidential law enforcement database to investigate jurors in a death penalty case.
Judge Monica Edelstein issued a court order on November 12 that requires MCAO to explain its use of the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database to investigate jurors.
Under Arizona state law, using the confidential database for unauthorized purposes is a class 6 felony.
In a new response, MCAO told the court nothing about its investigation was improper.
“Yes, the State may obviously use the NCIC database to research jurors. This is evident based on the plain language of the relevant statutes, their history, case law, and common sense,” according to a memo filed by MCAO.
The controversy is happening in the death penalty case of Franklin Clifton, who was arrested in October 2014 for shooting two women. One of the women died.
Court records show that during jury selection for Clifton's trial, prosecutors repeatedly tried to remove two specific jurors — numbers 42 and 54 — from the panel.
When their requests were denied, MCAO "initiated an investigation that consisted of a criminal background check conducted by MCAO detectives, public information searches… and a search of social media accounts," court records show.
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The prosecutors handling the case are Deputy County Attorneys Kristin Larish and Heather Livingstone.
Most court filings related to this situation are sealed, likely due to privacy issues surrounding jurors.
Contact ABC15 Chief Investigator Dave Biscobing at Dave@abc15.com.
This digital article was produced with the assistance of AI and converted to this platform based on the broadcast story written and reported by ABC15 Chief Investigator Dave Biscobing. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
