On December 2, 2007, a 40-year-old man named Juan Mendoza Farias was arrested and booked into the Maricopa County Jail. Like a lot of people who come through Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s doors, Farias’ offense was DUI-related, a probation violation. Farias wound up with a death sentence.

After three days, he …

Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Own Records Raise Serious Questions About Inmate Juan Mendoza Farias’ Violent Death

by John Dickerson

Juan Mendoza Farias was handcuffed and alone in a jail cell when guards opened the hatch on his cell door and fired more than a dozen paintball-like pepper balls at him. Then …