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 The latest court order setting Arpaio’s trial date for Dec. 6 means that the six-term Maricopa County sheriff will be spared from facing the contempt charge in court until well after his bid for re-election on Nov. 8. In signing the agreement Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton agreed that a maximum penalty of six months in jail would be appropriate for the 84-year-old sheriff if he is convicted. “The sheriff denies the allegations and looks forward to having his day in court.” 
 
 Arpaio has already been cited for civil contempt by Snow as part of the underlying racial profiling case brought against the sheriff by civil liberties groups on behalf of Latino motorists who claimed they were discriminated against in Arpaio’s crackdown. Bolton said Arpaio’s trial will decide whether he “should be held in criminal contempt for willful disobedience” of the 2011 injunction, issued by U.S. District Judge Murray Snow. Arpaio’s attorney boiled the order into simpler terms: “Arrest or release,” he told his client at the time. Nick Oza/azcentral.com 8 of 14 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE DOJ'S CRIMINAL-CONTEMPT CHARGE AGAINST SHERIFF JOE ARPAIO Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's attorney speaks | 0:46 Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's attorney Mel Mcdonald addresses the media outside the federal courthouse in Phoenix.  PHOENIX (Reuters) - A federal judge on Tuesday ordered Arizona lawman Joe Arpaio to stand trial in December on a criminal contempt charge of violating the terms of a court ruling against the controversial sheriff in a 2007 racial profiling case. According to court documents in the case, sheriff’s deputies acting at Arpaio’s behest continued making such traffic stops for 18 months in defiance of another judge who presided over the civil lawsuit challenging the practice. Snow in August recommended three separate allegations of criminal charges for Arpaio, though DOJ prosecutors have only chosen to pursue one.
– It's official: Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona has been criminally charged with federal contempt of court and could face up to six months in jail if convicted. The case stems from December 2011 when a federal judge barred the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office from conducting Arpaio's signature immigration patrols targeting Latinos, solely on suspicion they were in the country illegally, as a racial-profiling case against the Sheriff's Office was playing out. Evidence, however, suggests officers continued with the program for at least another 18 months, reports the Arizona Republic. Lawyers for Arpaio, 84, say he unintentionally violated the judge's order. Arpaio—who may still face a charge of obstruction of justice for allegedly failing to hand in evidence—has previously said a criminal-contempt charge would be nothing more than an effort to prevent his re-election to a seventh term. His Dec. 6 trial date ensures he won't lose any time on the campaign trail, which he apparently needs: Arpaio sits 15 points behind his Democratic challenger, according to a poll released last week, per Reuters. Arpaio's campaign manager, however, says internal polling has Arpaio leading by 7.5 points.