Village Voice Media Executive Editor Released From Jail and Vows to Fight October 19, 2007 by Michael Clancy Village Voice Two top executives of Village Voice Media, the parent company of the Voice, were arrested Thursday night and released from jail early Friday morning for revealing information about a secret grand jury proceeding in a story in the Phoenix New Times.  (Click HERE for the story.) The story—headlined "Breathtaking Abuse of the Constitution", and written by Michael Lacey, Village Voice Media executive editor, and Jim Larkin, VVM chief executive— detailed how Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio used a wide-ranging subpoena "in an attempt to research the identity, purchasing habits, and browsing proclivities of our online readership." The stunning arrest of the two media executives is the latest chapter in a saga that began when the paper took a hard look at Arpaio and questioned some of his real estate transactions. "Our question during the election cycle was: How is it that a guy [the Sheriff] who's making $72,000 a year has nearly a million dollars in cash to invest in these parcels?" said a newly-released Lacey about the commercial real estate transactions the paper brought to light. Stephen Lemon, a Phoenix New Times staffer, covered the arrests last night and Larkin's and Lacey's subsequent release from jail this morning. "We're being arrested for raising hell," Lacey remarked. "It's sort of a tradition journalism has." Case Against New Times Dropped County Attorney Removes Special Prosecutor By Bill Jensen Published: October 19, 2007 At a press conference on Friday afternoon, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas announced that all charges against New Times, its owners, editors and writers have been dropped — and that special prosecutor Dennis Wilenchik has been dismissed. The shocking move came a day after Phoenix New Times published a story highlighting a grand jury subpoena demanding New Times hand over an unprecedented amount of reporter notes, personal information about Web site visitors and other intrusive materials. "We tried to make a modest stand for our readers, our reporters and our Constitution," said Michael Lacey, co-owner and executive editor of New Times/Village Voice Media. "Sometimes law enforcement prevails in their view of the constitution, sometimes the Irish prevail in theirs."

Police/Prosecutor Misconduct

How the System Works