Hey, we're in my car today, driving around. Got Kent Volkmer, the Pinal County Attorney, with me. Kent, tell me a little bit about yourself. So, I am the County Attorney here in Pinal County. As a lot of people know, our county is the size of the state of Connecticut. We've got about half a million residents. And I'm in charge of the felony prosecution for the entire county. And then we also prosecute all misdemeanors that occur outside of our local municipalities. So, there's a bunch of behind the scenes happened before we actually filmed this episode. Sam was going back and forth with the County Attorney's office to make sure that all the cases we could talk about, we could legally talk about. Something I didn't know is because we're putting all of this out on the internet, the cases that we could talk about had to be 100% adjudicated. So, the case had to start, go all the way through, and end, and be done with any sort of court, anything that had to do with the County Attorney's office, before we could talk about it. So, they went Sam gave them a whole bunch of cases that all ended up being criminal. And then the County Attorney's office looked into those, and they picked specific cases that had already gone through and were finished with the court system. And those are the ones specifically that we talked about. Right. So, all the the cases, when I'm writing them into the Justice Court, they're handled by your attorneys. They come to me, that's right. We get a ton of questions like in the comment bank from Fridays with Frank about like, "Hey, what happened with this case?" or you know, "Hey, you arrested this guy for DUI. You arrested this guy for, you know, criminal speed." or "What happened to that case?" And you're you're the guy that has those answers. I am. At least I should be. So, so what do we what do we have? I know a couple St. Patrick's Days ago, we had a we had an episode. I arrested a kid in Casa Grande. When was the last time you smoked any weed? Um I don't smoke. That's I don't know if that was the answer to the question I asked. And I don't feel like it was truthful. Um, I told him that his generation was doomed because I I believe that at a cellular level. Uh Still today? And uh and you I I had no idea what happened to that case cuz it never it never went to trial. Um, so I had no further contact with him, but your prosecutors took care of that case afterwards. That is correct. Um, the young man came in. Uh, ultimately he pled guilty to his offense, which was uh driving under the influence with a drug metabolite, a A3 violation. Uh, he was sentenced. He did uh 24 hours in jail. Uh, he was given 9 days suspended. His license was suspended and he had a hefty uh about a $2,000 fine. Um, just there. That doesn't include the breathalyzer and all the other things that that he now has to have in his vehicle and any legal fees, but he had to pay an additional 2K just to the county for that violation. Okay. So, he just pretty much went in and said, "Hey, yeah, I was high and let's let's take care of this. I plead guilty." and didn't which is why I never saw it because we he didn't he didn't challenge it in court. Come on, Frank. It's kind of hard. I mean, you you were there. You saw the video. I mean, it was quite evident. I love this. Okay. And how long was that? 30 seconds. 30 seconds. Okay. When I tell you to, you're going to take your first step. 1 2 3, you're going to go all the way to 9. Once you reach your ninth step, once you plant your lead foot, take a set of small steps like this and take your nine steps back. 1 2 3, just like that. Okay? So, you see where you're walking, keep your eyes down to your feet. Count your steps out loud so I can keep up with you. Just the way your arms are now, just comfortably keep them down to your side. And once you take the first step, don't stop until you've you've gone down, turn, and come back. Yep, that's it. Yep. 1 2 3 I'm sorry. Exactly what I told you do. So, I'm just I'm just That's okay. That's okay. 1 2 3 and back. So, wait, three steps? Uh nope. That's I'm sorry, dude. Was there Was there any Was there any part of that that you didn't cuz I asked if if you understood. about all the bad possibilities right now. Okay. Well, that's that's what happens when you do illegal things. When you do illegal things Well, it's not illegal cuz it's it's it's um It's weird. It's not illegal. Okay. How old are you? 19. How old can you be to to smoke marijuana without a medical marijuana card? You're right. Right. So, so if you're going to if you're going to stand on the mountain of right and say, "Hey, man, what I did was was legal." Then that's okay. So, yes, he he took responsibility. Uh I think the court had a little bit of mercy on him. The court could have given him more time, but I think ultimately he was held accountable. When I'm in court testifying, whether it's it's for a DUI or uh something civil like a speeding or window tint or seat belt, um when I go and give testimony there, I'm dealing with Kent's employees with with deputy county attorneys. Um so, about on average, maybe once a year, sometimes maybe twice a year, I'll go to to court, testify in front of a jury, so a jury trial for DUI um or aggravated DUI. And then about monthly or so, I go in and give some sort of testimony um in the justice court for civil violations. So, "Hey, I didn't think I was speeding." or you know, wh- whatever it may be, whatever the infraction is that people want to uh want their day in court, and I'll go and give testimony for that. So, but I ultimately I have very little contact with Kent directly, but I end up dealing with his employees um much more frequently. Uh he was given the tools to hopefully be successful and hopefully never to make that choice again. And that's the idea with the with the first um the first offense DUIs is to have some level of education in there to change that behavior and hope that doesn't happen again, right? It certainly is. I mean, look, you're on the roads every day. You know this as well as I do. Almost every fatal accident that we see in our community, there's some level of intoxication, whether it's prescription pills, recreational drugs, alcohol, but almost every single accident, one of the two uh have something on board. So, obviously, we want no drinking. We want no driving impaired. Um but, if people make a bad decision, we want to kind of give them some education, give them some immediate consequences, and hopefully we'll never see them again. What led you to be the county attorney? I got your What's your background lead you here? So, I was in a private practice for about a decade. Um about well over 8 years ago, I thought I could really make a difference in our community. Um you know, if I if I'm being really candid about it, I one time I represented a grandfather, uh a father, and a son. Uh all three of those suffered from substance abuse issues. Grandfather had spent the majority of his life in prison. Son had now spent the majority of his adult life in prison, and now they had a 16- or 17-year-old son and grandson who was going down that same path, uh was in the criminal justice system, uh and I was representing all three of them. And I asked the court, and I asked the state in in particular, "What are we going to do different for this kid so he doesn't end up where his father and his grandfather um are?" And their answer was, "That's not really our problem." And it didn't sit well with me. Uh That's a terrible answer. Yeah. It's the truth. I mean, if you look at what our statutory obligation is, it's not to to show mercy. Um it's to do justice, it's to hold people accountable, it's to to uh you know, prosecute the laws. Um but, we have a lot of autonomy, a lot of power, and a lot of authority where we can make our community a better and safer place. Uh and that's really been my mission. It's to to separate dangerous people and make sure that we punish them, we put them in prison to keep all of us safe. And those that made dumb decisions, those that are at a low point in their life, to see what we can do to restore them, to give them a a chance at actually being a productive member of our community. So, another case that we we get a lot of questions on as to how it ended was guy that I stopped because he was suspended while he was driving. Do you have a valid driver's license? Yeah, that's what he told me when I got pulled over the first time. Because you don't have a valid driver's license. How do you know I don't have a valid driver's license? Because you're the registered owner of this vehicle. All right. You have to get a supervisor out here cuz you you're not telling me what you're stopping me for. No, because you are the registered owner of this vehicle and you do not have a valid driver's license. You know what? Call your supervisor first. You can't do this. Yes, so we don't You You didn't You didn't pull me over just for like just to take my name? Yeah, that's actually exactly what I did. Um and then didn't want to get out of his car and all of that stuff. If you don't get out of the car, I'm going to remove you and when I remove you I'm going to put my hands on you in a manner that is much more aggressive than the conversation that we're having right now. Okay, are you going to get out? You're not going Out. Come on, get out. Out you come. All right, let's go. You guys are going to let me out of the car, okay? This is what we're going to do. I'm going forward. Hands behind your back. There we go. See? Just like that. I'm just worried you're going to See? Very simple. Very See how easy that was? So, right now, like I said, you're under arrest for driving on a suspended license. Then so I ended up arresting him. Thought he was high at the time when I contacted him. I think I found some drug paraphernalia in his car. And I know that I I ended up doing a blood draw and and sent those charges in for agg DUI. What whatever happened with that? So, you know this. A lot of people when they get pulled over, they are the smartest attorney and the most knowledgeable of the law of anybody in our community. If you don't believe them, just ask them cuz they'll tell you. But once he had an actual attorney appointed to him and they sort of explained that no, you did have the right to to lawfully stop him. Um you followed everything by the book. It was a legitimate stop and he was under the influence. He pled. He acknowledged that he was under the influence of methamphetamine. He again play pled to an A3 violation. Spent a day in jail. Was put on probation. Received a fine and had his license suspended. More. More. More more suspended. Correct. Or I should take turns and roll it. Yep, absolutely. Or you could just very simply stay up in El County. There were all sorts of comments about, you know, that I didn't have the right to stop him and, you know, cuz I had run his license plate. And it has always been my understanding that none of the information contained within the license plate is private. That that is is property, more or less property of the state. Is that Am I interpreting that right? Yes, it's a privilege to be able to drive. So the reality is you are exercising a privilege to drive on our roads and we have certain restrictions that you have to have a valid license plate. You have to have a valid driver's license as well. So yes, you are certainly within your rights as a law enforcement officer to run plates, to look at different things, things that catch your attention to see. And then in this case, obviously, you ran the plate. You saw that the owner had a suspended license. It looked like it was him, so you initiated a stop. All completely above board. I haven't had to testify in all the cases that that I submit to your office cuz, like you said, some people just take pleas. But recently I did testify to a case in Central Pinal Justice Court and and that ended up with a conviction after I gave testimony. Absolutely. This was the case and you remember it well. I'm I'm hoping your viewers do as well. If you haven't, I'd encourage you to go back and look at it. This was the gentleman who took the the sticker off of his motorcycle and he actually placed it on his pickup truck's license plate to show that it was a valid license plate. Where did the sticker that's on your license plate come from? From my motorcycle. I have a Harley. Oh. Okay. I'll be back. Can you take that uh turn your truck off for me, please? Thanks. Cuz I don't want you backing up over me when I remove your plate. Why are you removing my plate? Because it's it's a fictitious registration. That tab does not belong on this plate. Look, just take Get it. You can take the tab and my license but not the We'll see. We talk about this this one case with a fictitious registration um because it's the only case that we could find that was a criminal case that started on Fridays with Frank that that Sam had video of the initial stop that actually went to trial. Um it happens incredibly infrequently and this was the only case out of all the cases and all the citations that I've written um having Sam in my in my passenger seat, this is the only case that actually went to a trial in front of a judge. Um so that's why we we spoke about it specifically is it's the only one we could find. Um we we've had a couple civil ones that have that have gone and the judge wouldn't allow Sam to video in the courtroom. So that's that's the judge the judge has that right to say no, I don't want video in my courtroom and they exercise that right. So I think we've had one case that went to trial uh for a civil speeding and then that one criminal case. So the only two that I could think of um out of all the citations that Sam and I have written together. So it doesn't happen very often. Officer, the plate is registered to the car. That is correct, but the tabs on the plate are fictitious and being a fictitious makes it a criminal offense. And the fact that it's I have my old register. That's not fictitious. What are you talking about? That tag is registered to this car. To this truck. the the plate is. is. That's what I'm saying. So, you can take the tag, but not I mean the uh the sticker, but not the plate. Well, this entire thing is evidence. Ultimately, he did not take responsibility for his actions. He exercised his constitutional right to go to trial. We went to trial. We called you as a witness. Uh and ultimately, the court convicted uh the gentleman of driving with a fictitious plate. So, I think he was found responsible for both the criminal speed violation, which was my initial uh reason for stop, and then the knowingly displaying fictitious registrations. I think both of those are misdemeanors and That's absolutely correct. He He was convicted for going in excess of 20 over the posted speed limit in addition to the fictitious plate. But, yeah. You testified there were absolutely uh no issues. During this video, I didn't make a single traffic stop. And something else that I found out uh that I learned from having Kent in my passenger seat is any stop that we would have conducted, if it would have went to court, Kent would have had to send it to another county because he would have been directly involved with it. So, we didn't want to burden Maricopa County um by having to send, you know, civil and or criminal cases to Maricopa County and burden their case load. So, Kent and I just drove around and talked. Um you went through, explained what you saw, why you stopped him, what you did, the interaction you had with him. Ultimately, the court weighed the evidence there and uh found beyond a reasonable doubt that in fact uh the gentleman did in fact exceed the speed limit and um was driving with a fictitious plate.