Legal scandal forces Pinal County off high-profile capital murder case

A Maricopa County judge has disqualified both the Pinal County Attorney's Office and Pinal County Superior Court from prosecuting a 2017 quadruple murder case, after discovering the defense attorney assigned to one defendant, Matthew Long, never actually met the qualifications required to handle a death-penalty case. The case had dragged on for seven years before anyone questioned Long's credentials, credentials undermined by a mistrial he caused as a prosecutor and a separate wrongful-conviction lawsuit tied to his handling of a jailhouse informant.

Once Long was removed, both defendants' new attorneys sought a change of venue and prosecutor, and Judge Patricia Starr agreed, finding that lawsuits against Long and his own notice of claim against a sitting Pinal County judge had compromised the whole county's ability to appear impartial. Starr was explicit that she found no wrongdoing by the county, only an appearance problem so severe it outweighed keeping the case local.

Pinal County Attorney Brad Miller has already moved to pause the ruling and plans to appeal. Only three Arizona counties are equipped to try capital cases, leaving the question of who inherits this one unresolved, seven years and multiple lawsuits into a case that hasn't reached trial.

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