Rep. Leezah Sun disputes claim she misrepresented authority in child custody case

State Rep. Leezah Sun acknowledged she intervened in a child custody matter in mid-June, but disputed that she acted in a hostile or intimidating way in a letter to a Maricopa County judge just after the encounter.

Sun, a Phoenix Democrat who is running for a seat in the Arizona Senate, addressed the two-page letter to family court Judge Melissa Zabor days after she inserted herself into a contentious case involving the children of an Avondale school board member. Sun's letter is part of the public court record in the custody case.

The account in Sun's letter offers a conflicting view of an incident that is now part of an ethics complaint against her. The letter also provides a perspective in Sun’s own words. She has declined to comment about the ethics complaint and letter when contacted by The Arizona Republic.

Sun disputes a custody supervisor’s report that she was hostile and claimed to be acting on behalf of Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes.

“I did not say I was directed by the AG’s office or represent myself as acting in any official capacity,” Sun wrote. “I did not say anything about there being a conflict or speaking with Kris Mayes.”

Democratic leaders in the Arizona House of Representatives last week filed a complaint seeking an investigation of Sun, citing what they called a pattern of concerning behavior.

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Their complaint publicly revealed the custody interference claim for the first time. It also cited an injunction that three Tolleson employees were granted after raising concerns about Sun’s demeanor and threats she is accused of making, including “to kill” one employee. Sun admitted to using violent language at times, but told The Republic she was not a violent person.

Sun has until Nov. 15 to respond to the complaint. Then the House Ethics Committee will determine next steps, including whether to conduct a formal investigation.

The lawmaker offered the following account of the situation that unfolded in the parking lot of an Avondale Dairy Queen on June 16.

“I identified myself as an elected official but did not describe myself as being there in any official capacity,” Sun’s letter reads. She said a report from custody supervisor Kristyn Alcott that is the basis of the ethics complaint “contains a number of inaccuracies and omissions.”

By Sun’s account, she was not hostile nor intimidating when she encountered Alcott trying for an hour to get the children to go with their father. The children refused to do so. Sun said the children were scared and dehydrated as they sat in a car without air conditioning with their stepfather.

“I also identified myself as a friend of the family and told her that, as an elected representative, I wanted to look out for all of my constituents,” Sun wrote. Sun said she was “in the process of collecting the parents’ stories to be sent to the Attorney General’s office.”

Sun said her intent was to de-escalate the situation, which she described was “clearly emotional and physically exhausting for all parties.” Ultimately, Sun wrote she commended Alcott for following “’due process,’ which I said (perhaps incorrectly) as a synonym for following the processes and procedures assigned to her by the court to the best of her ability.”

Sun wrote that she "wanted to set the record straight, such that the court might be accurately informed of my involvement in the situation."

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Alcott had written in her own June report that Sun said she was "there as directed by ‘attorney general Kris Mayes’” and "was there in an official capacity." Alcott wrote that Sun was “confrontational” and that she stated several times to let the children leave.

“Representative Sun advised that she initially thought ‘appearing today would be a conflict, but after I spoke with Kris Mayes, she told me I absolutely need to be here,'” Alcott wrote. Mayes’ office denied any involvement in the situation.

Alcott wrote that she took Sun’s actions and comments to be hostile and threatening and an attempt to intimidate her.

Zabor, the judge, ultimately sided with Alcott. Zabor's order highlights the complexities and many contradictory allegations in the underlying child custody case.

”This interaction was inappropriate, intimidating, and hostile,” Zabor’s order reads. “It was designed to interfere with the job that the Court ordered her to do, and it was successful in that interference."

The judge wrote that “it is likely that Mother or a member of her family contacted Representative Sun to assist in the interference of the Court order.” Zabor ruled Alcott should oversee the mother's time with the children, because of the mother's attempts to push a "false and unsubstantiated narrative" and history of having "no intention of following any court orders."

The mother, Rachel Cardona Barnett, told The Republic this week that she did speak to Sun on the day of the exchange but did not ask her to intervene.

Barnett was elected last year to the Littleton Elementary School District Governing Board in Avondale. That’s how she met Sun a month or two before the custody exchange, according to Barnett.

Sun took interest in a group of parents Barnett helps lead who believe domestic violence survivors are being mistreated by the family court system and children are being placed with abusers. Barnett said she believes that's what happening in her case. The parents were collecting paperwork telling their stories that Sun said she would take to the Attorney General’s Office, according to Barnett.

“I most certainly did not ask her to go there, no, I didn't," Barnett said. "This is a very personal matter and though I think she's a nice woman and I appreciate her interest in the matter, she's not my friend.”

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Barnett said Sun can be “abrasive” and “not really my cup of tea.”

“But what I will say is that I and many other people have been very active in trying to seek support for this issue,” she said. “And the thing that did impress me about Representative Sun is she's the only one who actually kept listening.”

The children’s father could not be reached by The Republic. His attorney did not return a message about the case.

Reach reporter Stacey Barchenger at stacey.barchenger@arizonarepublic.com or 480-416-5669.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Leezah Sun denies she misrepresented authority in child custody case