PHOENIX (CN) - A former Arizona lawmaker who resigned after threatening to throw a lobbyist off a balcony was given two years probation Thursday for violating the restraining order the lobbyist filed against her. 

Leezah Sun, school board president for the city of Tolleson, Arizona, and former Democratic state representative, said she didn't recognize the three city of Tolleson employees she'd been barred from contacting when she greeted them in a downtown Phoenix cafe. She and the city employees had come from the same state courthouse where Sun asked a judge to lift the restraining order, saying it interfered with her work as a local politician. 

Pilar Sinawi, the lobbyist about whom Sun said she would "bitch slap her, throw her off the balcony and fucking kill her," called the police after Sun tried to engage with them and refused to leave. 

Sun said she didn't recognize them "due to their extreme changes in appearance. A mistake that can be made by anyone."

She didn't explain what she meant, but her defense attorney Gabriel Hassan added that, as a politician, Sun makes a habit of greeting everyone she sees.

City Judge Tina Solomon was not sympathetic. 

"No contact means no contact," she said, repeating the words she used to convict Sun of violating a court order after a one-day bench trial last week. "I found there was contact. I found the victims' testimonies to be credible. I did not find your testimony to be credible."

Sun's two-year probation sentence, which also serves as a restraining order, ties a bow on what the House Ethics Committee called Sun's "pattern of disorderly conduct," stemming back to December 2022, when she reportedly threatened to "investigate" Tolleson Elementary School District superintendent Roger Freeman before she was even elected as a state representative.

It only got worse from there. 

"On May 31, 2023, the loving and kind environment that the city of Tolleson is was shattered by one person: Leezah Sun," city manager Reyes Medrano recalled.

Addressing the court through the state prosecutor's cell phone, his voice barely filled the Phoenix courtroom Thursday afternoon. 

After a failed attempt to meet with the mayor and members of the city council, Sun met at the Tolleson civic center with Medrano, Sinawi and Alicia Guzman, a government affairs support specialist. In that meeting, the city employees say Sun threatened them and called them a string of expletives including "asshole" and "douchebag." Medrano said Thursday that Sun stared him down.

"It wasn't just a look, it was a leer," he said. "Meant to scare me. And it worked. I was scared."

He added that Sun contacted his daughter on Instagram to intimidate him and his family, causing him to "constantly scan parking lots. Constantly look over my shoulder."

A few months later at a Arizona League of Cities and Towns conference in Tucson, Sun vented to two other lobbyists. 

"She threatened to physically assault me and kill me by throwing me off a balcony," Sinawi told the court Thursday, also via garbled speakerphone. "She came to my home, trespassed on my property and even tried to attack my husband on social media."

In a House Ethics hearing in January 2024, Sun said she was just "being dramatic" and didn't intend to make an actual threat. In response to the ethics complaint, Sun noted that she is only 5 feet 4 inches tall, and therefore could not be intimidating. 

 "At no point was Ms. Sinawi ever in jeopardy of being bitch-slapped by Rep. Sun," her attorney wrote.

Regardless, the three filed a yearlong restraining order against Sun, who violated it six months later in the cafe. Sun resigned from the Legislature just days after the ethics committee found her in violation of House rules.

Insisting she never harassed anyone, Sun deflected the blame, crying loudly as she read her statement. 

"My achievements have naturally made enemies," she said between sobs, referring to her political career. "I have been harassed, targeted and bullied by individuals who just refuse to leave me alone."

Sun complained to Solomon that a two year restraining order from city officials could hinder her work as a politician because it's likely that she and they will attend the same events. 

"I'm not gonna tell you you can't be in the same building, but you are not to contact those three people. Is that clear?" Solomon demanded. 

Sun eventually agreed. After the hearing, her lawyer didn't say whether they planned to appeal the sentence. 

Source: Courthouse News Service