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PHOENIX — For nearly two years, former corrections Lt. Mark Hasz has faced an aggravated assault charge.
As he approaches trial later this year, his defense team is laying the groundwork to argue that the alleged assault was a justified use-of-force, and that Hasz is the target of retaliation for blowing the whistle against the state’s prison director months before his arrest.
“They went after him to destroy him,” said Shaun Holland, a fellow whistleblower, and former assistant deputy warden.
Holland, who was present during Hasz’s alleged assault on July 21, 2020, wasn’t charged himself but was fired.
“Absolute retaliation,” Holland said. “They needed a reason to fire us. They found something. And they retaliated against us.”
ABC15 has reached out to ADCRR for a statement and we have not yet received a response.
In a statement, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office also stood behind the aggravated assault charge.
“Prosecutors reviewed the facts and evidence and made the decision that a crime had been committed and charged the case appropriately,” a spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
Hasz’s attorneys have obtained hundreds of use-of-force videos from inside the state prison system and plan to show examples of cases that were never disciplined or charged, court records show.
ABC15 has also separately obtained leaked videos of violent incidents that raise...
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