Arpaio loses bid to cancel contempt of court hearings

Sheriff Joe Arpaio will be facing a contempt of court hearing in front of a Federal Judge next week.

This all stems from the Sheriff's acknowledgement that he violated court orders in a racial profiling case, and his attorneys have been working hard behind the scenes to have the hearing cancelled.

The hearing will look into how MCSO deputies ran immigration sweeps for about 18 months after an injunction that ordered them to stop the patrols.

Arpaio and his top deputy acknowledged the violations, offering to make a $100,000 donations out of their own pockets to a civil rights group, hoping to call off the hearings.

But Tuesday, a judge ruled they will have to appear in court on April 21.

"Hopefully the truth will come out. What we need is transparency, and we want to make sure the courts order is followed to the letter of the law," said immigration activist Lydia Guzman.

Guzman is a plaintiff in the case. She says she is looking forward to finding out exactly what went on inside the MCSO during the highly publicized immigration patrols that led to the civil rights lawsuit.

"Arpaio is so desperate to make this contempt hearing go away. We don't know why, or what it is that Arpaio is trying to hide. What we do know is that we should move forward with this hearing. We should find out what he is trying to cover up," said Guzman.

It was the second time that Arpaio's attorneys have tried to have the hearing cancelled.

"He shouldn't be held above the law. He should be able to abide by the court's order. He's the one who always says the law is the law, let's follow it," she said.

FOX 10 tried several times to get a comment from Arpaio and his attorneys, but they did not reply. If you'd like to read the judge's order, click here: Document: Arpaio's request to cancel contempt of court hearings