A federal district judge in Phoenix has accepted President Donald Trump's pardon of former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Wednesday, confirming that the controversial tough-on-crime sheriff and early supporter of Trump's presidential bid will walk free with no legal record after being found guilty of contempt in July for refusing to honor a 2011 court order.
At the request of lawyers representing both Arpaio and the Department of Justice, Judge Susan Bolton dismissed the guilty verdict against Arpaio with prejudice, meaning it cannot face another legal challenge, according to AZ Central.
After Trump took the unprecedented step of pardoning Arpaio before the 84-year-old was sentenced, the former sheriff's lawyer confirmed that he will walk free immediately, and will not face jail time.
Joe Arpaio's lawyer states #Arpaio has a clean record and will not be facing jail time. pic.twitter.com/uO9WFs2Oxo
— Cronkite News (@cronkitenews) October 4, 2017
Bolton was widely expected to accept the pardon. Arpaio did not attend the hearing. The ruling comes five weeks after Trump pardoned Arpaio's conviction for disobeying a 2011 court order in a racial profiling case demanding that he stop his traffic patrols that targeted immigrants. Notably, Bolton is the same judge who found Arpaio guilty of contempt. Prosecutor John Keller says the pardon ends the case and that Arpaio will never be held accountable for defying the order, according to the Associated Press.