PHOENIX — The Arizona Supreme Court on Friday upheld the two-year suspension of April Sponsel, a former prosecutor with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, following her role in charging 15 people at a protest in 2020.
The Court upheld Sponsel’s suspension from practicing law for two years after the court found she violated ethic rules, according to a Arizona Supreme Court news release.
Why was the former Arizona prosecutor suspended?
Sponsel was the lead prosecutor in cases against 15 people who were arrested during a Phoenix protest in October 2020 following the deaths of George Floyd and Dion Johnson.
The MCAO filed gang-related charges against those charged after minimal review despite having over 100 hours of police body camera footage and 250 pages of police reports from the protest, according to the release.
The charges eventually triggered an investigation. After learning of Sponsel charging the protestors with only minimal evidence review, the MCAO dismissed the charges against the protesters.
Sponsel was placed on administrative leave on March 2, 2022 and she was later fired by the MCAO in June 2022.
The State Bar of Arizona filed ethical charges against Sponsel and a disciplinary panel suspended her for two years.
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