"My leadership style was first developed at West Point and subsequently tested on the battlefield, in boardrooms, and in courtrooms, and has always stressed a collaborative approach with an emphasis on mutual responsibilities, common objectives, and shared victories," Bill says.

"Whether I was charged with accomplishing tasks as an individual contributor or given the tremendous responsibility of leading others to success, I have always ensured that work was performed honorably and ethically."

To this day, I believe that the West Point Honor Code – 'a cadet will not lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate those who do' – is just as validly applied to the world in which we live as it did in the rigorous training environment on the west bank of the Hudson River in New York.

Accordingly, I have exercised the duties and responsibilities of Maricopa County Attorney with the highest example of professional ethical conduct for the benefit of the men and women of the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, fellow Maricopa County officials, and fellow citizens of Maricopa County."

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Rights of Victims of Crime

For far too long, victims of crime were viewed as merely a necessary "piece of evidence" in the presentation of a criminal case. Victims were all too often kept in the dark when it came to the status of a criminal case, let alone when hearings were going to be held or even how a case was ultimately resolved. Since a criminal case is brought on behalf of the state, victims were not seen as having a real stake in the proceedings.

Fortunately, President Ronald Reagan instituted a commission in the 1980s to review the status of victims of crime and issued a report that has since served as a cornerstone in the effort to correct the imbalance between the emphasis on the rights of a defendant in a criminal case with those of the victim.

Bill has represented crime victims in both state and federal courts and fully supports the enforcement of the rights of crime victims. He has also appeared as an advocate for the rights of crime victims before the Arizona State Legislature.

We must never forget that when a criminal harms one person in our community, we are all harmed in one way or another. Crime victims deserve our support and prayers for healing.

Our State and Federal Constitutions provide a framework, enhanced by rules of criminal procedure and rules of evidence, that safeguard an accused person's basic and fundamental right to a fair trial. It is also a prosecutor's duty and responsibility to ensure that right is protected when reviewing, charging, and prosecuting crimes. To that end, prosecutors must exercise sound discretion, always looking to see that justice is done, when wielding the authority and discretion our criminal justice system gives prosecutors.

In the end, the greater the public confidence in the ability of our criminal justice system to hold criminals accountable and ensure that just punishments are handed down, the more orderly our society remains – and the less likely we are to see a resort to vigilante justice.

Death Penalty

Bill supports the imposition of the death penalty as a just punishment in those instances where a murderer has taken innocent human life under circumstances calling out for the ultimate penalty.

Arizona law is very specific about when the death sentence can be imposed. The ultimate penalty can be applied only after a jury of twelve fellow citizens has unanimously found a defendant is guilty of murder, then unanimously found the murder was committed under circumstances calling for consideration of the death penalty, and then only after the jury has found, again unanimously, that there are no circumstances justifying leniency.

The death penalty should also be considered only in those instances where the crime is terrible and unjustifiable.