PHOENIX — A prosecutor with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is on administrative leave while an outside review into one of her cases is pending.
The case is from last October when a group of Black Lives Matter protesters was charged for being in a gang.
County Attorney Allister Adel announced last month she’s bringing in a judge to review those controversial felony gang charges.
As result, a spokesperson for MCAO confirmed Wednesday that longtime prosecutor April Sponsel was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the outside review.
MCAO said Sponsel was hired in 2004 as a deputy county attorney. She has been a prosecutor assigned to a variety of areas, including juvenile division, community-based prosecutions, and gangs.
"When charging decisions are made, we don’t always have the benefit of all the information," Adel told 12 News' Brahm Resnik in an interview on Feb. 19, a few days before announcing her decision to have an independent review.
"Those protocols weren't necessarily followed in this case," she added.
Adel explained she wasn’t fully involved with these cases at first, saying she was dealing with health issues.
But after she got back to work full time, following a head injury on Election Night, she moved to dismiss the charges and called for an independent review.
Adel said there was a possibility some could be refiled. Now, she's vowing her office will better comb through cases before filing charges. She says cases will go under incident review, where a diverse group will roundtable what to do with each case.
"Let's say we can’t agree on something, that means a jury can’t agree and we can’t go forward with it," she said.
Even with the charges dropped in the gang case, some damage is still done.
Kenneth Countrymen represents Suvrana Ratnam, one of the protesters arrested and charged with being in a gang.
"She was held in custody for almost a month," he says. "Since she’s been released she’s had a very difficult time adjusting. Every time her doorbell rings she freaks out."
Ratnam is still facing assault charges stemming from a different protest. Countryman says they're fighting those charges, too.
"We believe if there are mistakes made there should be consequences."
Sponsel won’t be able to work on administrative leave but she’ll still be paid. MCAO says it does not know when that independent review will be complete.