“We have a story for you if you’re interested. We are in court at the present time for the third time for the same bogus incident.” He said they would be in Superior Court Judge Andrew Klein’s courtroom at 10:30 and attached links to two Phoenix New Times articles: “California roll nets 10 years,” from March 13, 2003, and “Thunder road,” dated June 16, 2005.

They were about Luciano “Louie” Arriaga, Jr., who was charged with resisting arrest and aggravated assault against a police officer.

Arriaga was being tried for the third time on the aggravated assault charge.

A few minutes after Sonoran News received the e-mail, Arriaga called and said, “There should be some fireworks in court today.” There was just enough time to make it downtown.

After meeting the Arriaga family and sitting in court with them, Arriaga’s dad, who sent the original e-mail, sent another note later that day, that began, “Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2002 is a day we will never forget, when our son Louie came within seconds of being executed for trying to save his life against police brutality by Warren Poole of the Phoenix Police Department.” He said, “Just this past Tuesday, Aug. 16, Poole committed perjury.” Poole originally claimed Arriaga rolled through a stop sign on the morning of Feb. 6, 2002, but couldn’t seem to get his story straight.

It should be noted the stop sign violation was dismissed when Poole testified he couldn’t actually see Arriaga’s truck from where he was parked and used intuition to determine Arriaga had rolled through the stop.

While Arriaga had no tickets, no warrants, no weapons, no drugs and no rap sheet, Poole, on the other hand, still had an extreme DUI pending from June 2001, which was why he was removed from the elite ranks of the SWAT Team and was back on patrol.

Poole claimed Arriaga tried to speed away, doing “at least 25 MPH.” The posted speed limit was 35 MPH.

In one account, Poole said Arriaga got out of his truck and was walking away from him rapidly.

But when Poole radioed in he said he was in a foot pursuit, and told the first officers to arrive at the scene he had to tackle Arriaga to the ground when he caught up with him.

In yet another version, Poole claimed Arriaga was just standing there “squaring off” at him.

Poole’s story kept changing; from the time he radioed in, to when officers arrived at the scene, to his taped interview with Detective Ricky Newberry at Good Samaritan Hospital two hours later.

Arriaga maintains he stopped and turned around when Poole asked him to and was just standing there when Poole tackled him to the ground.

Arriaga previously testified he kept asking Poole, “What do you want me to do? Why are you doing this?” It was when Poole placed Arriaga in a carotid hold that Arriaga believed Poole was trying to kill him.

Lying on his belly in a choke hold close to unconsciousness, Arriaga grabbed for anything he could reach, which happened to be a stick, and blindly swung backwards, hitting Poole, who then released the choke hold.

According to Arriaga’s Attorney Chad Shell, when Poole testified on Tuesday about pulling out his gun and being within seconds of shooting Arriaga, he was crying.

When trial resumed on Thursday, Phoenix Fire Department Captain Alfred Hoffman testified “there were a lot of police cars” when he arrived at the scene.

Hoffman said he was asked to take a look at Arriaga, who was sitting in the back of a police car.

“He was cussing at me … calling me everything in the book,” Hoffman testified.

Shell said, “Yeah, Louie was really pissed off,” and asked Hoffman, “Have you ever been assaulted?” “No,” Hoffman responded.

“Did anyone tell you Poole punched him … used pepper spray?” “No.” When asked what he noticed about Poole, Hoffman said his uniform was dirty.

Shell displayed a picture of Poole and asked, “Do you see any dirt?” While Arriaga was dirty from head to toe, Poole’s uniform was only dirty below the knees.

According to the testimony of officers at the scene, a few civilians were also present.

However, not one single police officer present wrote a report, or took down statements or names of any witnesses.

The only report was based on Poole’s interview with Newberry.

During his first trial Arriaga was found guilty for resisting arrest while the aggravated assault charge resulted in a hung jury.

The prosecution re-filed the aggravated assault charge and Arriaga was found guilty in the second trial.

However, Arriaga’s former Attorney Martin Lieberman didn’t believe Arriaga received a fair trial, citing, “… the court allowed Arriaga’s conviction for resisting arrest in the first trial to impeach his testimony in the second trial.” The jurors were led to believe Arriaga had a prior felony conviction, which Lieberman said “was extremely prejudicial to Louie’s case, especially since many of the issues had to be resolved by comparing Louie’s testimony to Officer Poole’s testimony.” Arriaga served nearly two years of a 10-and-a-half-year sentence before his conviction was overturned.

Sgt. John White, a 20 year Phoenix Police Department veteran, was scheduled to testify on Thursday after lunch as an expert witness for the prosecution.

The Arriagas said White’s peers call him “Robocop,” due to his mannerisms and martial arts background.

White testified he’d been asked by the deputy county attorney to review the original report filed by Newberry and, based on review of that single document, White determined Poole exercised “proper use of force options under the circumstances,” citing, “Traffic stops are dangerous … you have a heightened sense of awareness.” White was unaware of Poole’s varied accounts and testified there were omissions in the transcript he received of Poole’s taped interview with Newberry.

Even though Arriaga testified during the first two trials, White never reviewed either transcript.

On cross examination, Shell asked White, “Is it possible Officer Poole was creating an alibi for whipping Louie’s ass?” “No,” responded White.

Shell asked, “If you had heard the other side of the story, would it have mattered?” “No.” When Shell asked White what Poole’s motive for lying or creating an alibi would be, White said the consequences could include loss of certification and his job with the possibility of criminal charges.

On Monday, Aug. 22, after the last witness testified and both sides presented closing arguments, Klein gave the jury their final instructions, prefaced with, “These are the rules you must use to determine guilt,” and sent them off to deliberate at 3:30 p.m.

Shell said it was generally a good sign if the jury came back with a quick verdict.

During closing arguments, Shell recited an old saying to the jury, “You can’t convict a man based on the testimony of one witness.” After only 45 minutes, the jury returned with a unanimous guilty verdict, based on the testimony of one witness – a cop who couldn’t keep his story straight.

Shell said he was “shocked” by the verdict and filed motions for judgment of acquittal and to dismiss or alternatively for a new trial.

Oral arguments are set for 8:30 a.m. on Friday before Klein.