PHOENIX - "America's Toughest Sheriff" Joe Arpaio on Wednesday again lobbied to remove the judge and court-appointed monitor in a racial profiling case against him, claiming both engaged in "improper" ex parte communications involving the merits of the case.
This is the third time Arpaio has demanded recusal of a judge hearing the long-running case, and the first time he's gone after the court-appointed monitor.
In 2015, Arpaio claimed a judge showed bias when asking about the sheriff's hiring a private eye to investigate the judge's wife. When the judge refused to step aside, Arpaio again called for recusal based on that refusal.
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