A Los Angeles attorney has been appointed as a special prosecutor in an appeal over former metro Phoenix Sheriff Joe Arpaio's pardon after President Donald Trump's Justice Department refused to handle the case.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday picked Christopher G. Caldwell to argue in support of a lower-court judge's ruling that dismissed the lawman's case but refused to erase his criminal record after the pardon was issued.
Arpaio was convicted of criminal contempt of court for disobeying a judge's 2011 order barring his immigration patrols.
The pardon by Trump spared Arpaio a possible jail sentence.
Arpaio is appealing the ruling that refused to expunge his criminal record.
Lawyers for the Justice Department won the conviction, but after the pardon was issued, the agency sided with Arpaio.
