Criminal Cases

1. ILLEGAL STOP TOSSES $1 MILLION COCAINE BUST. A judge rules and agrees with Attorney Lee Phillips that a DPS officer had insufficient evidence of an illegal lane change before discovering 56 pounds of cocaine. State of Arizona v. Avila

2. GIRL LIED, CHARGES DROPPED. Prosecutors dismiss sexual assault and kidnapping charges after thorough investigation by Lee Phillips results in evidence that the victim was lying about the alleged offense. State of Arizona v. Beckhum

3. LOAD OF POT GOES FOR NAUGHT. A federal judge agrees with Attorney Lee Phillips that 1,400 pounds of marijuana found in a truckload of lettuce cannot be used as evidence because the driver was improperly pulled over for excessive window-tinting. State of Arizona v. Norman

4. JUDGE TOSSES $1 MILLION POT SEIZURE. A driver transporting nearly 900 pounds of marijuana goes free because Attorney Lee Phillips convinced the court that the evidence should be suppressed because the missing radio dispatch recordings were destroyed by DPS. State of Arizona v. Palmer

5. JUST 10 MINUTES TO ACQUIT. Attorney Lee Phillips is successful after a Flagstaff jury needed only 10 minutes to find there was reasonable doubt that his client knew he was transporting 304 pounds of marijuana in his semi-truck. State of Arizona v. Walters

6. STATE HIGH COURT SAYS RACIAL PROFILING CAN GET CASES TOSSED. The Arizona Supreme Court rules after hearing arguments from Lee Phillips that racial profiling can be a defense in a criminal case and that charges may be dismissed where police officers stop motorists because of their race.

7. STATE COURT: HAROLD FISH NO LONGER CONVICTED FELON. In the case of State v. Harold Fish, Lee Phillips successfully challenged his client's murder conviction resulting in the Arizona Court of Appeals throwing out his client's conviction and ordering a new trial. The State decided to not retry the case and Mr. Fish was released from prison. State of Arizona v. Fish

8. HIGHWAY DRUG CONVICTION TOSSED. The Arizona Court of Appeals reversed a drug conviction involving 11 pounds of cocaine and ruled that the detention and search were illegal after Lee Phillips filed an appeal challenging the constitutionality of the search and seizure. State of Arizona v. Sweeney

9. NOT GUILTY VERDICT IS RETURNED IN A SEX OFFENSE CASE. Despite the testimony from the two alleged victims and several other witnesses for the prosecution, Lee Phillips' client, who was facing a life sentence, left the courtroom as a free man after the jury came back with a not guilty verdict. State of Arizona v. Walker

10. COCAINE TRAFFICKER IS FOUND ‘NOT GUILTY'. In a case involving the transportation of nearly 100 pounds of cocaine, Lee Phillips was successful at trial where the jury found there was reasonable doubt that Lee's client knew that the drugs were hidden in a concealed compartment in the vehicle he was driving and therefore, returned a not guilty verdict. State of Arizona v. Wigfall

Civil Rights Cases

1. IN LANDMARK RACIAL PROFILING SETTLEMENT, ARIZONA LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENTS AGREE TO MAJOR REFORMS. In response to a class action lawsuit filed by Lee Phillips, the Arizona Department of Public Safety has agreed to make sweeping reforms to prevent racial profiling by patrol officers along Arizona's highways and streets. Arnold, et. al. v. Arizona Department of Public Safety

2. DPS RACIAL PROFILING LAWSUIT SETTLES. DPS agrees to proactive measures to address racial profiling concerns including the installation of video cameras in patrol cars.

• Click here to view a copy of this historic settlement and the terms of the agreement.
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• Click here (7MB PDF) to view Driving While Black or Brown: An Analysis of Racial Profiling in Arizona. This report was written about Lee Phillips' work to expose and stop racial profiling by the State Police and the Arnold Settlement Agreement requiring DPS to collect traffic stop data. The first year of data collection is analyzed in this report.

3. First Amendment Victory - A peace activist and t-shirt vendor represented by Lee Phillips won his case before a federal judge who decided that the selling of items that feature the names of fallen soldiers was protected speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Frazier v. Boomsma

Native American Cases

1. JUDGE TO RULE IN AGES-OLD INDIAN LAND DISPUTE, New York Times. Lead attorney for the Navajos, Lee Phillips, gears up for final arguments involving the settlement of the Navajo-Hopi land dispute. Manybeads v. United States of America

2. BURY MY HEART AT BIG MOUNTAIN, Time. Representing the Navajo resisters, Lee Phillips explains the difficulty in relocating Navajos off the land that they've known for generations. Article 1, Article 2, Article 3

3. RELOCATION DEADLINE ARRIVES BUT NAVAJO HAVE WON REPRIEVE, Los Angeles Times. The Navajos won a reprieve from the threat of immediate and forced eviction from the disputed land that has been their home for many years. LA Times Article

4. THE WIND WON'T KNOW ME: A History of the Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute, by Emily Benedek

5. STRUGGLE FOR THE LAND: Native North American Resistance to Genocide, Ecocide, and Colonization by Ward Churchill. "Perhaps most notable among the interns was Lee Brooke Phillips, who ultimately succeeded Gurwitz as head of the legal defense expert." (Excerpt from book.) Also discusses Lee's work in spearheading the fight in the Manybeads lawsuit.