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Judge agrees to delay Arpaio's criminal trial

Posted at 4:57 AM, Apr 12, 2017
and last updated 2017-04-12 16:52:26-04

Former Sheriff Joe Arpaio has succeeded in delaying his April 25 trial on a criminal contempt-of-court charge.

U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton reluctantly agreed Wednesday to the delay after Arpaio's lead attorney quit the case last week and other lawyers who had recently joined his legal team said they didn't have enough time to properly prepare for trial.

RELATED: Judge denies request to dismiss contempt-of-court case

The new trial date hasn't yet been set.

Bolton says it wouldn't be fair for Arpaio to have attorneys at trial who had been representing him for only a few weeks.

Arpaio faces the misdemeanor charge for prolonging his immigration patrols for 17 months after a judge in a racial profiling case had ordered them stopped.

He has acknowledged prolonging the patrols, but said his defiance wasn't intentional.