Former Arizona Justice Michael Ryan Dies

Retired Arizona Supreme Court Justice Michael Ryan, who spent 24 years on the bench in Arizona courts, died Monday after an apparent heart attack. He was 66.

Ryan started his legal career in 1978 as a deput Maricopa County attorney, and he was one of the few Supreme Court Justices with experience as a trial court judge. In 1986, he was appointed to Maricopa County Superior Court and presided over major trials, including the Phoenix Suns drug trial in 1987, the felony trial of former Arizona Gov. Evan Mecham in 1988 and the “AzScam” public corruption case in the early 1990s.

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