Pinal supervisors outraged by unauthorized spending to defend deputy attorney
By Brian Wright | Casa Grande Dispatch
Pinal County funds have already been spent on legal fees defending Deputy County Attorney Richard Wintory, even though the Board of Supervisors never approved the expenditures.
About $27,500 has been spent defending Wintory, the county’s chief deputy criminal attorney, during a State Bar investigation, according to board Chairman Steve Miller of Casa Grande.
Nearly $7,000 in outstanding fees have yet to be paid, but during the board’s special meeting Wednesday, it decided against paying any more fees related to Wintory’s defense.
Supervisors unanimously agreed to look into hiring outside counsel to decide if paying the fees to date to defend Wintory violated the county’s gift policy and to inquire about recouping the $27,500 already spent.
The funds came from the Pinal County Attorney’s Office budget, which Miller said are tax dollars.
Wintory, who was hired by County Attorney Lando Voyles, is the subject of an ongoing State Bar investigation for his alleged conduct during a 2010 murder
trial in Pima Wintory County. Wintory was a prosecutor for the Pima County Attorney’s Office at the time.
Later that year, Wintory took a job with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office but remained the attorney on the Pima County murder case against 52-year-old Darren Irving Goldin. Wintory sought the death penalty for Goldin, but Goldin was eventually sentenced to just 11 years in prison.
After Pima County Superior Court Judge Paul Tang imposed the sentence, he asked the State Bar to investigate Wintory for possible ethics violations.
