Jerald Newman was left bloodied and bruised after his arrest at a Buckeye Walmart on Black Friday. Witnesses say a cop was too rough with him.

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Jerald Newman, the grandpa whose bloody arrest at a Walmart on Black Friday made national headlines, hasn't yet been charged on allegations of shoplifting and resisting arrest.

Buckeye police Lieutenant Jared Griffiths tells New Times that his agency did submit the charges to prosecutors. But the Maricopa County Attorney's Office sent the case back to the police agency for further investigation.

Griffiths says the agency plans to shore up the case and resubmit it next week.

"We have asked Buckeye to provide us with some additional information we need in order to make a charging decision," writes Jerry Cobb, spokesman for County Attorney Bill Montgomery, in response to an e-mail we sent him.

Witnesses at the Walmart claimed that Buckeye police officer Kevin Rorke was too harsh on Newman during the arrest.

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Qikai "Ben" Chen, a former Basis Charter School teacher, received a one-year term of probation after being accused of bashing the face of his boyfriend's 6-year-old daughter.

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Qikai "Ben" Chen, a former math teacher for Basis Charter School in Scottsdale, received one year of probation for allegedly bashing the face of his boyfriend's 6-year-old into a door hinge.

We say "allegedly" because Chen was never convicted of the felony count of child abuse for which police thought he should be prosecuted. Instead, he was allowed in September to take a plea deal for hindering prosecution, a misdemeanor.

Court records show that an injury the child had received just prior to the alleged child abuse incident complicated the case.

Chen was at home with his boyfriend's two girls, the boyfriend being out of town, when the 6-year-old woke him up from a nap. According to the girl, Chen slammed the girl's face into the metal hinge of a door frame at least twice.

Chen reportedly admitted what had happened to police, who investigated more than a week later after the kid showed up at school with "significant" bruising from her forehead to her cheek, court records state.

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Brett Mecum, former executive director for the state Republican Party, lost his speeding case last month after a two-year court battle.

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The criminal speeding case of Brett Mecum, former executive director for the state Republican Party, ended last month after a two-year odyssey through the court system.

Mecum, 32, was fired from his GOP post in May following scandals that included the speeding incident, a stalking complaint and an allegation that he'd told a Goodyear council candidate that she could purchase Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's endorsement for $2,000.

The news media -- including us, for a while -- sort of forgot about Mecum's prosecution for speeding. The main reason: Former Arrowhead Justice of the Peace John Keegan threw out the case days after the high-profile arrest at the state GOP's headquarters. An Arizona Republic story last month, for example, reported that "criminal charges were later dismissed."

In fact, on June 8 -- the same day that Repub story was published -- Mecum was in court accepting a plea deal on the speeding charge. (The guilty plea was ultimately dismissed, as you'll find out if you read on.)

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Image: The Panorama Prospector

Richard Berger, shown here with a 500-pound pyrite cluster, sued Paradise Valley resident Gary Midzor last year after his mineral collection was moved to Phoenix. The lawsuit has been settled -- sort of.

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An extraordinary collection of crystals and minerals alleged to have been illegally moved from Sedona to Phoenix last year has returned to Seattle following a lawsuit settlement.

Gary Midzor, the man who bought the collection once appraised at $25 million for $1 as part of a real estate deal, now wants the public to know he's not a shady character, as the lawsuit alleged -- and that the guy who sued him agrees.

We weren't able to fully confirm Midzor's story because we couldn't reach Richard Berger, the Washington man who accused Midzor and others of fraud and breach of contract. But we did reach Berger's Phoenix lawyer, Phil Fleming, who confirmed that a settlement in the case has been reached "that's acceptable to both parties."

Actually, though, the legal maneuvering over this multi-million-dollar pile of rocks may still have a ways to go.

 

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Image: Steven Anderson

Steven Anderson was acquitted in the checkpoint stop that left him bloodied. Now he can get back to worrying about homosexuals.

​No fan of freedom could appreciate the draconian Border Patrol/Yuma County checkpoints on Interstate 8 near the Arizona-California.

These Third-World-style roadblocks thwart the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable search and seizure, courtesy of a still-disputed 1976 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allows them within 100 miles of the international borders.

Still, we're not thrilled with the acquittal of Tempe Pastor Steven Anderson on charges related to his protest of an Arizona-side checkpoint, which left him Tased and bloodied.

It's not the outcome of the case that dampens our enthusiasm: People who protest these checkpoints ought to be treated humanely, not tortured with a Taser and brutalized.

But Anderson's no hero. He's a hate-spewing advocate of violence against innocents, and he claims his viewpoint is Biblically based.   

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Eugene Scott

The story:

Arizona Republic reporter Eugene Scott is arrested in August for leaving his puppy in a hot car. The dog wasn't hurt, but Scott was charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty.

The follow-up:

Scott was placed in a Chandler court diversion program, which usually involves taking some kind of civic-lesson classes. The Chandler prosecutor's office tells New Times Scott successfully completed the program and the charge was dismissed.

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