“You just haven’t proven your case,” Judge Lee F. Janzen of Mohave County Superior Court told Hamad’s attorney, Timothy Lasota.
At the end of the one-day trial, Lasota conceded that he had no evidence of error or misconduct affecting enough votes to affect the result, and instead asked the judge to simply adjust the count to reflect the 14 votes he claimed were due to the ruling error been questioned. The judge declined to do so, saying it was beyond the court’s purview to decide on election contests.
Metz welcomed the ruling, said in a statement, “the will of Arizona voters will not be compromised.” She predicted that the forced recount would not change the election result and said she was ready to start as attorney general.Meanwhile, Hamad controversial Saying on Twitter that the terms of the trial are unfair.
In closing arguments, attorneys for Mayes and the secretary of state’s office denounced La Sota for bringing what they believed to be a pointless case. Meyers’ lawyer, Dan Barr, said he would ask the court to impose sanctions on Hamad’s lawyers.
In his 37 years of legal practice, Barr said, he “has never been involved in a case that wasted as much time as this one.”
“The judiciary and the bar need to come forward and sanction this,” he added. “It’s gone too far for too long.”
Andy Gaona, an attorney for the secretary of state’s office, called the proceedings a “terrible waste of everyone’s time.”
For his part, Lasota admitted he hadn’t proven his case even before the judge’s ruling, saying of election contests, “They usually don’t succeed.” He said that if he was given more time to collect Evidence, he could have done better. He said he showed some ballot ruling errors and insisted there was public value in bringing such a case to boost confidence in the outcome.
“We lodge our complaint in good faith,” La Sota told the court.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake’s two-day campaign trial in Maricopa County concluded Thursday. A judge in the case has yet to rule. A judge last week dismissed a lawsuit brought by defeated Republican secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem.