City must pay fired prosecutor $5 million

May 22—In a case that potentially rocks the city's legal department, Scottsdale must pay a fired prosecutor more than $5 million.

On May 14, a Maricopa County jury ordered the city to pay Shawn Fuller $5.25 million for wrongful termination and damages. After a 17-day trial, seven of eight jury members agreed Fuller was wrongly terminated after he blew the whistle on mishandled DUI cases.

According to a statement, "The city of Scottsdale is incredibly disappointed by the jury verdict in this case and will appeal. The city categorically denies any wrongdoing."

According to his attorney, Joshua Carden, Fuller "would have been just as euphoric with a verdict they wrongfully terminated him and defamed him — that and a dollar."

The suit Carden filed on behalf of Fuller claimed there was no legitimate reason for City Attorney Sherry Scott to fire him in February 2020. Fuller claims Scott fired him as retaliation for putting her office under the microscope.

A city investigator sustained allegations against Fuller, including that he bullied subordinates and treated female employees differently than men.

Scottsdale hired Fuller Sept. 30, 2019, then fired him four months later.

Fuller alleged the investigation and subsequent termination was retaliation after he attempted to expose miseeds of his predecessor, Caron Close — who allegedly failed to turn over potentially exculpatory evidence to defendants in nine DUI cases.

On his first day in Scottsdale, according to his suit, Fuller was told of disturbing information: "The rumor was the exculpatory lab reports came in showing no alcohol or drugs in the defendant's system and were not being disclosed to the defendant."

In other words, after pressing for guilty pleas, the city was not telling accused drunk drivers that blood tests showed they were sober.

"Deeply concerned, Mr. Fuller ordered an immediate audit," according to the winning lawsuit.

The suit and notice alleged Scott did not want to audit the cases due to a concern for how it would affect Close, "who was a single mother and was going through a lot of stress of late after being fired by Maricopa County."

Close retired from Scottsdale in March 2019 following a personnel investigation into her leadership of the department. She was briefly employed thereafter by the Maricopa County Attorney's Office.

Fuller claims that, after Scott refused a deep-dive audit, Scott suspended Fuller for "vague" reasons, later launching an investigation into gender discrimination.

After telling Fuller the investigation "wasn't a good report" about his behaviors, Scott fired Fuller Feb. 7, 2020.

Four years and three months later, Carden said Fuller was in the courtroom when a foreman read the verdict in his favor.

"You talk about the storm clouds lifting," the attorney said. "He's been walking around for four and a quarter years with this label Scottsdale defamed him with — that he discriminates against women."

Carden described Fuller as having a long, spotless professional career as a prosecutor before his Scottsdale troubles.

"He was award-winning, asked to teach a Brady (public disclosure of police misconduct and exculpatory evidence) seminar. He's ex-military, he's worked with men and women for years without a problem," Carden said.

Fuller's attorney said the Scottsdale court arguments were thin.

"There was no parade of people they could bring in to talk against Shawn," Carden said.

The attorney said he was pleased even without a unanimous win: "I needed six of eight (jury members)," Carden said. "I got seven of eight."

City denials

In its statement, the city insists it will ultimately win the case, stating "Fuller's conduct generated numerous complaints from different staff who worked in his office. An outside independent investigator sustained several allegations of misconduct in violation of city administrative regulation. As a result, his employment was terminated."

"The city knows it acted appropriately in this employment matter and is confident that this ruling will be successfully appealed."

In a previous statement countering Fuller's claim, the city said Scott "authorized and supported continuing the audit during the full length of the Prosecution Department's file retention period and also authorized Mr. Fuller to take any of the corrective actions he recommended."

The audit found nine cases between 2015 and 2019 in which potentially-exculpatory blood sample reports were not provided to defendants who took guilty plea deals, according to the suit.

It resulted in one case dismissal and one vacated conviction.

The city denied it has a systemic problem with withholding evidence.

"In only nine of the over 1,000 cases audited (less than 1 in a 100) were any potential concerns noted," according to a 2020 statement from the city.

Carden, however, said Scott's testimony in the lawsuit was troubling.

"The thing that bothered me the most that had not been said prior to trial was when City Attorney Sherry Scott took the stand and was critical of changes Shawn brought," Carden said.

"She said their prosecuting department was more of an assembly line."

Fuller tried to change that system, Carden said, but changes he made were reversed after he was booted from the city attorney office.

"An assembly line is outcome based — you remove any roadblocks to getting to the finish line," Carden commented.

Asked for a comment on the "assembly line" testimony, city spokesman Kelly Corsette said, "The context of that comment is important. Scottsdale prosecutes 8,000-14,000 cases per year, which requires a comprehensive process to manage.

"The 'assembly line' analogy was made to describe how changing one part of that process affects the other parts. With a limited staff to handle that large volume of cases, everyone has to do their part."

Even so, Corsette added, "each case is reviewed individually by a Scottsdale city prosecutor for factual and legal sufficiency based on the standard of reasonable likelihood of conviction."

Not holding breath

Scott, a 1991 graduate of Arizona State University's law school, has worked for the city since 2001. She was promoted to deputy city attorney in 2006 before becoming the city attorney at a salary of $218,000 in October 2020 — a month before Fuller was hired as a city prosecutor.

After a series of annual raises, Scott's salary is now $304,000.

Asked if he expects an apology from Scott and the city, Carden said Fuller is not holding his breath. "I don't see that any time soon," the attorney said.

Fuller is currently the chief tribal prosecutor for Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation.

According to his bio on the Arizona Prosecuting Attorneys' Advisory Council website, Fuller previously worked for the Arizona Attorney General's Office and "is a dedicated career prosecutor."

Before his brief time in Scottsdale, Fuller was chief deputy attorney for the Gila County Attorney's Office and a prosecutor for Maricopa County.

In 2011, he was awarded the Prosecutor of the Year Award by the Arizona Chapter of the International Association of Arson Investigators.

"All he has really wanted," Carden said of Fuller, "was his name back. He walked around under this cloud for four and a half years."