Hamblin v. State; Maricopa County Adult Probation Department
Arizona Court of Appeals
143 P.3d 388 (2006)
Fifteen-year-old probationer Roy Salinas violated the terms of his parole while awaiting the start of a deferred jail sentence, but his probation officer, exercising the discretion Arizona law allows, chose not to arrest him for that violation. Salinas subsequently shot and killed Russell Hamblin during an armed robbery. Hamblin's family (plaintiffs) sued the state and the Maricopa County Adult Probation Department (defendants) for wrongful death, arguing that had the officer arrested Salinas for the parole violation, he would have been back in custody and unable to commit the robbery and murder. The trial court ruled for the department, and the Hamblins appealed.
Whether a probation department can be held liable for a probationer's later crime when its officer exercised discretion not to arrest him for an earlier parole violation.