Fired prosecutor returns to Pima County Attorney's Office

Paul Skitzki was fired by Barbara LaWall, the former county attorney. Next month Skitzki is set to return to the Pima County Attorney’s Office as a supervisor for the criminal division, Pima County Attorney Laura Conover announced Friday.

Nicki DiCampli, another former county prosecutor who was suspended for allegedly not immediately telling law enforcement information related to the same killing, is also coming back as a criminal division supervisor. DiCampli's suspension was later reduced to a verbal reprimand.

Late at night on Oct. 5, 2004, the body of David Brian Stidham, a 37-year-old pediatric eye doctor, was found in the parking lot outside of his office on Tucson’s north side, according to Arizona Daily Star archives. Stidham had been stabbed 17 times, and his skull had been fractured. Upon initial investigation, the scene looked like a possible carjacking turned fatal.

“He’s a family man, really, with two little kids,” Bradley Schwartz, Stidham’s former business partner, told a Star reporter shortly after the killing. “It is just shocking.”

A little over a week after he talked to a Star reporter, Schwartz was arrested and charged in connection with Stidham’s killing. Investigators believed Schwartz had paid Ronald Bruce Bigger to kill his former business partner.

Shortly before the pair was arrested, Lourdes Lopez, a former Pima County prosecutor and Schwartz’s former girlfriend, went to detectives and said Schwartz had told her he wanted to hire a hit man to kill Stidham.

Bigger was later convicted of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and first-degree murder; Schwartz was convicted of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. Both are currently serving life sentences.

It was later learned that Lopez may have told Skitzki about Schwartz's alleged plot before the murder, according to Star archives.

Although Lopez was no longer working as a prosecutor, she was still close with many people in the county attorney’s office, says David Berkman, former chief criminal deputy county attorney.

In addition to firing Skitzki for not reporting Lopez's allegations, LaWall suspended three other attorneys who had allegedly learned of Lopez’s story after the killing but failed to report it immediately.

Skitzki, who denied knowing of the alleged murder plot, appealed his termination and lost.

During Skitzki's appeal before the Pima County Merit Commission, LaWall testified that "if Skitzki came forward with this information in a timely way … Dr. Stidham may still be alive," according to Star archives.

In 2005, Daphne Stidham, the slain doctor’s widow, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Pima County, LaWall, Lopez and Skitzki.

Both Lopez and Skitzki knew of the murder plot ahead of time yet didn’t comply with their duties to report that information to law enforcement, the civil complaint in the lawsuit alleged. “Had they done so, the murder of Dr. Stidham would have more likely than not been prevented by law enforcement intervention.”

After a roughly two-year legal battle, Daphne Stidham settled her lawsuit for $2.29 million. Under the terms of the settlement, the county, LaWall and Lopez were dropped as defendants from the case. Pima County paid out the settlement on Skitzki's behalf.

The settlement was neither a denial nor admission on Skitzki's part, an attorney representing the county told a Star reporter at the time.

Conover defends hiring decision

"It is now my honor and pleasure to be able to bring so many of these talented prosecutors, like Paul and Nicki, back into PCAO to train the next generation of young lawyers," Conover said in a news release Friday.

Skitzki has handled over 200 criminal trials and accumulated eight years of civil litigation experience, the release said.

During her time at the Pima County Public Defender’s Office, Conover had the chance to learn from Skitzki, who had been hired there in 2005, the release said. 

“It’s just appalling that she would make that decision,” said Berkman, an outspoken critic of Conover.

Berkman had been promoted to head of the criminal division of the county attorney's office about nine months before Stidham was killed. He stepped down from the position in 2011. Since Conover took office in 2021, Berkman has lodged a 22-item complaint with the State Bar of Arizona against her and even sued her office over failing to provide public records.

“This is an insult to the victim in the case, Mrs. Stidham,” Berkman said. “And it’s an insult to the poor people who gotta work with him (Skitzki).”

Skitzki would not comment Saturday.

Conover did not agree to the Star’s request for an interview; she instead sent a written statement.

“Pima County has employed Paul as a supervisor and trainer of young attorneys for 21 years now, and he'll be a lateral coming over to do the same for more young attorneys,” Conover said in an email Friday. 

“Combined, I just added 60 more years of trial experience with these two hires today.”

In response to being asked about Skitzki’s firing, Conover said she “can’t take much stock in a decision” made by her predecessor 21 years ago. 

“It’s better that I look at the breadth and depth of Paul’s experience in the two decades that have elapsed since,” she said. “The previous administration has been gone and retired for six years now, but I understand it can still be entertaining to listen to them, shall we say, opine.”