The firing of one of Maricopa County’s highest-profile prosecutors was upheld by a county personnel board Tuesday.

Juan Martinez lost his appeal of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office’s decision to fire him in February after allegations he retaliated against women who claimed he harassed them. 

The Maricopa County Merit Systems Commission voted unanimously to side with a hearing officer’s recommendation to uphold the county attorney’s decision.  

Martinez had accused Ken Vick, chief deputy at the County Attorney’s Office, of not having the authority to fire him. He also claimed the office terminated him because he reported a co-worker recording him with her phone inside Maricopa County Superior Court. 

The Republic, in an investigation published earlier this year, documented the accounts of 17 women who say Martinez harassed or mistreated them in various ways. They included law clerks, judicial assistants, a prosecutor, a defense attorney, two jurors, a trial blogger and a probation supervisor. Eleven women shared their claims of harassment.

The Republic also reported how past county attorneys, judges and regulators at the State Bar of Arizona wrote off allegations of misconduct and reports of sexual harassment against Martinez. 

Martinez’s career unraveled after the Jodi Arias trial, where he was accused of ethical misconduct, including disseminating confidential information about a juror to his blogger girlfriend, sexting with an ex-juror, harassing a court reporter and lying during a State Bar investigation.

CATCH UP: Despite Juan Martinez’s ‘egregious’ court behavior, Jodi Arias won’t get new trial

Martinez agreed to be disbarred July 17, ending a State Bar investigation into the allegations involving the Arias trial and claims that he sexually harassed co-workers at the County Attorney’s Office. 

Martinez’s attorney and the County Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to The Republic’s requests for comment.  

The hearing officer’s report

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In his 29-page report, Harold Merkow said Martinez’s supervisors rightfully decided his “value to the organization is fatally eroded by his retaliation against female employees and the likelihood that it would persist.”

Merkow’s report included information from an internal county investigation launched in 2017 that remains under seal by court order and still is not available to the public.

According to the report, Martinez for years was accused of targeting female law clerks and, in his final days on the job, was accused of harassing two women who previously complained about him.

Martinez claimed the county attorney’s office had a vendetta against him. Merkow disagreed, saying it would be hard to “rationally conclude that the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office had any pretext” for wanting to get rid of Martinez.

Merkow said firing Martinez was neither arbitrary nor capricious. He said Martinez disregarded the reprimand he received in 2018 and said there was a reasonable prospect Martinez would “continue to retaliate against female employees,” regardless of which bureau or floor he was assigned to work. 

Merit Commission hearing 

A representative of the County Attorney’s Office on Tuesday told the commission the hearing officer’s report was thorough and the only remaining issue was if Vick, the chief deputy, had the authority to terminate Martinez. 

“He clearly had the authority to fire Mr. Martinez,” Brandon Newton, the office’s attorney, said. 

In a letter from March 2 sent to the Maricopa County human relations director, Martinez’s attorney Thomas Brown said the prosecutor’s career and personal integrity “have been perhaps irreparably tarnished by a vendetta against him by Mr. Kenneth Vick and MCAO.” 

“The dismissal appears to be motivated not by due process, but by internal and external political considerations and pressures,” Brown wrote. 

Brown continued to argue on Tuesday that Vick didn’t have the authority. He said in Vick’s dismissal letter there was no mention that the chief deputy received approval from Adel. 

In late 2019, Vick reviewed complaints against Martinez, along with a memo the prosecutor sent to supervisors about one of the women.

Vick concluded that the complaints and Martinez’s 2018 reprimand, from the internal investigation concerning sexual harassment and misconduct allegations, constituted a “pattern of unprofessional conduct.” 

Brown accused Vick of making contradictory statements about his authorization to fire Martinez.

Newton said Vick and County Attorney Allister Adel discussed Martinez’s actions before the termination and she granted him the firing authority. 

“The only evidence is that Allister Adel appointed Ken Vick as the appointing authority, which she can legally do,” Newton said.

Adel told The Republic in August that the hearing officer’s findings uphold the ideals she has for the office. 

“As county attorney, I have zero tolerance for inappropriate behavior,” she said.

Brown told the commission that one of the main reasons why the County Attorney’s Office fired his client was because of a memo he sent to his supervisors reporting a female co-worker recording him inside the Maricopa County Superior Court. 

According to the hearing officer’s report, Martinez accused a female co-worker of filming him on her cellphone as they walked by each other. Martinez said he was “personally concerned” about the incident and that it was against courthouse policy.

“Videoing in the courthouse is against Maricopa County Attorney’s Office rules and against courthouse rules,” Brown told the commission. “Due to this reporting of this violation Mr. Martinez has been terminated from his position with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.” 

Brown said the office is using this as proof of retaliation, when there is nothing to show that Martinez did anything wrong. 

Brown said that the office did not investigate Martinez’s claim or ask the female employee if she had a video. 

According to the hearing officer’s report, the woman denied recording Martinez. She said she looked down at her cellphone when she saw him and avoided eye contact.

Reach reporter Lauren Castle at [email protected] or 602-444-4821. Follow her on Twitter: @Lauren_Castle.

Reach reporter Robert Anglen at [email protected] or 602-444-8694. Follow him on Twitter @robertanglen.  

Reach reporter Anne Ryman at [email protected] or 602-444-8072. Follow her on Twitter @anneryman.

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