Arizona right-wing pundit arrested, accused of DUI in Scottsdale

A disgraced former prosecutor turned right-wing pundit was so inebriated she was unable to properly namedrop the Maricopa County sheriff after she was arrested for driving under the influence, according to police reports.

Rachel Alexander twice asked a Scottsdale police officer about “Sherry Jeridan” as the officer waited with her at a jail. When he asked who she was talking about, Alexander appeared to lean into the name, the officer reported.

“I quickly realized she might be talking about the Maricopa County Sheriff Jerry Sheridan,” the officer reported. “Rachel then asked me if he had ever talked to me about ‘us entering the jail.'”

Alexander, 54, attended a Dec. 21 party with other Arizona Republicans and posted a selfie with Senate President Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, the night of her arrest. She had a blood alcohol level of 0.230%, according to lab results, roughly three times the legal limit.

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She was charged with two counts of extreme DUI, two counts of DUI and one count of driving without valid registration. Three months later, her case is still winding its way through Scottdale City Court with multiple continuances, the latest of which was March 19.

“I always accept responsibility for my actions, and remember in the United States of America, no one is guilty until convicted in a court of law,” Alexander said in an email to The Arizona Republic that turned into a rambling screed against Democrats.

“It is time for the left and their agents who have ruined countless lives through lawfare and making our situations hell, to accept responsibility for all the destruction they have wrought and are wreaking in our society today,” she said in the email. “I hold my head high having survived the worst legal and professional beating from these evil people and I will continue to do my part to hold them accountable.”

The arrest was first reported on X by a poster named William Coffin under the handle @CoffinItUp. He regularly reports on Arizona politics.

Law license suspended for multiple ethics violations

Alexander is best known for the spectacular implosion of her legal career while working for former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, who was disbarred in 2012 for politically motivated prosecutions against county supervisors and judges.

Alexander was the tip of Thomas’s spear in filing federal civil racketeering charges against public officials that legal regulators said were “legally and factually deficient” and lacked “any meaningful evidence.”

The State Bar of Arizona in 2013 suspended Alexander’s law license for multiple ethical violations, including knowingly engaging in misconduct and obstructing the disciplinary process. The Arizona Supreme Court reduced the length of her suspension to six months and ordered her to attend ethical classes before she could be reinstated.

Alexander, however, appeared to abandon her license, which remains suspended according to the State Bar. She frequently refers to “MaRICOpa County” in social posts where she decries leftist plots, fake news, rigged elections and lawfare among other cultural and social issues.

Alexander is the founder of the Intellectual Conservative news journal and a writer with Four G Media, a far-right website with a mission “to defend the four foundational principles of our nation — God, Gas, Guns & Glory!” She has made regular appearances on conservative TV and radio shows.

She touted her participation in an April 1 podcast on “hackable voting machines,” in a post on X: “Almost no other major podcaster will talk about this issue, because the Venezuelan cartels own everyone in D.C. a member of Congress told my expert friends privately.”

What happened before and during Rachel Alexander’s DUI arrest

Before her arrest, Alexander posted on X that she was at the “best Christmas party in Arizona tonight.” The party doubled as a birthday celebration for Ashley Earle, a member of the Maricopa County Republican Club. Alexander punctuated the post with heart, flags, Christmas tree and cross emojis.

Several prominent state lawmakers and elected officials also attended, according to a message and video Earle posted on Facebook. Those included Petersen, state Sen. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, Scottsdale Councilwoman Jan Dubauskas, Fountain Hills Mayor Gerry Friedel and Fountain Hills Councilmembers Gayle Earle and Allen Skillicorn. Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio also made an appearance.

Scottsdale police described Alexander as “argumentative, stuporous and incoherent” when they pulled her over. In addition to invoking the sheriff’s name, albeit wrongly, she raised her past position as a “prosecutor” and falsely claimed a leg disability that she later appeared to forget about, officers reported.

She also tried to walk away when officers asked her to take a breathalyzer test, saying, “I am not drunk,” according to the report.

Alexander declined to address the specific allegations contained in the police report.

Police said a driver near 84th Street and Shea Boulevard called 911 just before 10 p.m. to report that a blue Mustang had blown through a red light and was “swerving all over.” The driver followed it until officers stopped the car, according to reports.

Police said Alexander had difficulty getting out of her car. They said her movements and motor skills were slow and hesitant and she couldn’t stand up. They also said her speech was slurred and it was difficult to understand what she was saying.

“She stumbled forward and appeared to struggle with balance, to the point I asked her if she was okay,” an officer reported.

The officer said she admitted drinking wine and that her lips appeared to be stained purple.

“Rachel stated to me, ‘By the way, uhm, I have a, uhm, I have a, uhm, leg condition,'” the officer reported. “When I asked Rachel what specific condition she had, she could not give me an answer and only told me about unspecified ‘multiple conditions.'”

Alexander told the officer that “due to her being a prosecutor’ she did not like doing field sobriety tests, the officer reported. She also ordered him to call her defense attorney, the officer said.

Officers arrested her and took her to jail, where she raised the name “Sherry Jeridan,” according to the report.

“I asked Rachel to expand on what she was talking about, but she was incoherent and unable to articulate what she was actually asking,” the officer reported.

During the booking process, jail staff asked Alexander if she had any medical conditions and “she immediately stated, ‘no,'” according to the report.

Officers got a warrant for a blood test. She was cited and released around midnight.

A criminal complaint was filed Dec. 26.

Reporting by Robert Anglen, Arizona Republic