PHOENIX —
Jodi Arias prosecutor Juan Martinez will have to answer to ethics charges alleging he sexually harassed women in the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.
The Arizona Supreme Court on Monday overturned the dismissal of an ethics complaint against Martinez and sent them back to a disciplinary judge for a hearing.
The complaint was initially dismissed after Martinez’s lawyer argued that sexual harassment of staff and subordinates wasn’t considered “unprofessional conduct” under State Bar rules.
The high court disagreed. Calling the case an issue of “statewide importance,” the court said:
“The prohibition against ‘unprofessional conduct’ in both (Bar rules) and the Oath (of Admission to the Bar) includes substantial and repeated sexual harassment of staff or subordinates.”
Martinez, in his heyday the top death penalty prosecutor in the county attorney’s office, was fired in March by County Attorney Allister Adel, who had been on the job about six months. Martinez’s supervisor had concluded that his sexually predatory behavior was continuing.
“Your conduct has created an environment that is impossible to manage,” Chief Deputy Prosecutor Ken Vick said in a five-page letter to Martinez.
Martinez was the target of an ethics complaint last year alleging that several female employees in the County Attorney’s Office compiled a "JM shit list" of his sexually predatory conduct. Female employees said they would avoid Martinez in the office by hiding in a bathroom or ducking into a cubicle.
Martinez, a 30-year veteran of the county prosecutor’s office, has appealed his firing.
Martinez’s behavior had become an issue under former County Attorney Bill Montgomery. Montgomery had reprimanded Martinez.
Gov. Doug Ducey appointed Montgomery to the state Supreme Court last fall. Montgomery had to recuse himself from the Martinez case before the justices.
The sensational Arias murder trial transformed Martinez into an international celebrity. He would write a book on the trial.
Arias was charged with the gruesome murder of her ex-boyfriend and is currently serving a life sentence. She was spared the death penalty by one holdout juror.
Last winter, an Arizona Appeals Court turned down a bid to toss out the verdict based on Martinez’s alleged ethical transgressions. But the judges roundly condemned Martinez’s "egregious behavior" in the case.
Martinez now faces a long-delayed disciplinary trial on the harassment allegations, as well as allegations of legal and sexual misconduct during the Arias trial. Both sides will meet on when the trial will start and how long it will last, according to a Supreme Court spokesman.
Martinez could face penalties up to and including the loss of his law license.