BY LINDA BENTLEY | MARCH 30, 2011
Jail time looms large for former boxing promoter
After three weeks of continuances, McKinn files new motion to continue
PHOENIX – With the presence of additional sheriff’s deputies in the courtroom, it became more than apparent Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Arthur Anderson was considering jail time for former Top Rank boxing promoter Peter McKinn during his March 11 sentencing hearing.
Joe Diaz and Ramon “Yory Boy” Campas have been waiting more than seven years for justice to be served in Top Rank boxing promoter Peter McKinn’s elaborate scheme to defraud them out of over $5,000.
When Anderson verbalized his intent, defense Attorney Brian Russo moved for the court to reject the plea agreement.
Although Anderson denied Russo’s motion to reject the plea agreement and, in fact, accepted McKinn’s plea, he granted McKinn a two-week continuance for the purpose of holding a combination mitigation/sentencing hearing on March 25.
McKinn entered a plea agreement on Nov. 18, 2010, pleading guilty to amended counts of theft and solicitation to commit forgery, both as class 6 undesignated offenses, and an amended count of solicitation to commit perjury, as a class 6 undesignated felony.
The original date set for the acceptance of his plea and sentencing was Jan. 28, 2011.
However, due to a number of events, including objections and subpoenas filed by the victims, the recusal of Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Michael Kemp, rulings by a visiting judge pro tem and other issues, McKinn’s sentencing has been continued time and time again.
Boxing trainer Joe Diaz and his fighter Ruben “Yory Boy” Campas, victims of McKinn’s fraud, which also involved participation by Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, her husband Earl Wilcox, who was employed as special assistant to then Governor Janet Napolitano, acting Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley, and others, have waited seven years to see justice served in this case.
The case involves an elaborate fraudulent scheme to cover up a $5,000 bad check McKinn wrote to Campas as payment for a fight in May 2004, which, as Anderson pointed out on March 11, “blossomed into other charges.”
This time around, prosecuting Attorney Pascal Brown has filed a motion to continue the mitigation/ sentencing hearing, noting a conflict with a continuing education seminar for which he had previously signed up.
On March 18, Anderson granted Brown’s motion to continue and set McKinn’s mitigation/sentencing hearing for April 1.
April Fools’ Day may bring some not-so-amusing surprises for McKinn’s mitigation hearing, as Pedro Fernandez, editor of RingTalk.com and host of Ring Talk radio, who has followed this case for the past seven years, plans to fly in to testify with proof that McKinn and his entourage had him detained on false charges by Arizona Capitol Police and threatened his life on more than one occasion.
Fernandez said, “Unless the fix is in, and I don’t think so at this point, April Fools’ Day will be Peter McKinn’s last day as a free man for a long, long time.”
Sonoran News just learned on Tuesday that McKinn has filed another motion to continue his mitigation and sentencing hearing, claiming his father just had a heart attack and he needs to care for him.
April Fools’ Day already marks three weeks and two continuances from the time McKinn’s plea was accepted by Anderson and when McKinn most likely would have gone directly to jail, in which case he would have had no ability to care for his father.
Diaz said on Tuesday, “Another delay in sentencing, for any reason, will not serve the interests of justice, only McKinn.”
