A trial is scheduled to begin Tuesday in a lawsuit that alleges former Sheriff Joe Arpaio brought a trumped-up criminal case against Sen. Jeff Flake's son to embarrass the senator.
Austin Flake and his then-wife Logan Brown filed the lawsuit over Arpaio's investigation into the 2014 heat-exhaustion deaths of 21 dogs at a kennel operated by the younger Flake's in-laws.
The Flakes were watching the dogs while the in-laws were in Florida.
The dogs died when an air conditioner failed in a room where the animals were kept.
The case against the Flakes was dismissed at the request of prosecutors after an expert determined the air conditioner failed because it wasn't properly maintained.
Arpaio's lawyers deny the sheriff's office tried to connect the senator to the dog deaths.
