WARDEN v.

TUCSON CITY OFFICIALS: TUCSON ABANDONS BART SIMPSON DEFENSE

I didnt do itNobody saw me do itYou cant prove anything! Bart Simpson For nearly three years, ever since Tucson Activist Roy Warden filed suit on July 29, 2011, Tucson City Officials have advanced the Bart Simpson Defense, arguing, Theres no evidence to prove we violated Mr. Wardens First Amendment Rights, in Armory Park on May 1, 2010, or at any other place or time. And, besides; even if we DID prevent Warden from entering Armory Park for the purpose of public speech on matters of community concern, the LAWa Tucson City Ordinancesays we can! On January 24, 2014 lawyers for the City of Tucson, in response to an unassailable legal analysis of the law as it applies to public speech in parks and exclusive use permits as set forth by Warden in his Response to Motion for Summary Judgment, abandoned their Bart Simpson Defense, shifted gears, withdrew their Motion for Summary Judgment, and in lawyer-like legalese, stated in sum and substance: Ooops, Judge! There just might now be someevidence showing something. wrongmight have happen in Armory Park on May 1, 2010maybe some sort of court order so, let us do an about face and a never-mind and proceed ahead to discovery. On February 5, 2014, U.S. Magistrate Judge Bernard Velasco accommodated the City backdown, ordered the City Motion for Summary Judgment withdrawn, the parties to submit a Joint Report, and set a Scheduling Conference for 1:45pm in Federal Court on March 6, 2014. For three years the City of Tucson has wasted public funds to impede my suit, says Warden. For three years theyve lied and dissembled. Now, on the basis of the facts and the law, theyve finally admitted to the Court, we can no longer defend our clients previous legal position, a strategy which Warden finds incomprehensible. My parents taught me never to lie, cheat or steal, says Warden. And I was taught in school never to waste the time of a judge by making unsustainable, frivolous arguments on behalf of your client. It ruins your credibility as a lawyer.

This is the Second Time Warden has caught attorneys for Tucson City Officials advancing a frivolous argument to protect an indefensible factual and legal position. The first time was in 2011, when Warden, while attempting to read from a court document proving Tucson City Manager Richard Miranda had engaged in acts (that) were so outrageous in character, and so extreme in degree, as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency, and to be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilized community, was arrested and removed from a Tucson City Council meeting because Mayor Walkup deemed Wardens comments to be slanderous and impertinent. On October 3, 2011 Warden filed a Writ of Prohibition in Pima County Superior Court claiming the 38 year old Tucson Policy governing speech before the Mayor and Council was unconstitutional, as written and as applied. In their Motion to Dismiss the City argued, Why shucks Judge. That policy is legal. Its the SAME policy other Arizona municipalities employ to regulate speech before THEIR Mayors and Councils. Wardens answering brief so devastated the Citys legal position the City Attorney submitted a new argument at the next hearing, to wit: Warden no longer has standing to litigate this issue because tomorrow were changing our policy regulating speech before the Mayor and Council and implementing a brand new policy. On the basis of Tucsons retreat, Pima County Superior Court Judge Stephen Villarreal issued an order dismissing Wardens suit. Read the Judges Order, Warden says. To avoid the embarrassment of a Warden victory and a Court Order compelling them to change their policy, Tucson City Official s chickened out, backed down and rewrote their policy altogether, Warden says. Warden says he will address the insult to his person and his rights in another civil rights claim now pending before the U.S. District Court. To reprint, or re-publish this article, click HERE. roywarden@hotmail.com