The plaintiffs who successfully sued Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio in a racial profiling lawsuit are asking a federal judge to continue with an April contempt of court hearing despite the sheriff’s request to cancel it. 

Earlier this week, Arpaio and his Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan admitted to a federal judge they committed contempt of court by violating his orders on three occasions. They hoped by making the admission, the judge would cancel a scheduled four-day hearing in April designed to determine if Arpaio, Sheridan and three other officers should be held in contempt.

But in court papers filed Thursday, lawyers for the plaintiffs argued the hearing should still happen. They said the truth still hasn’t come out about the precise cause and sequence of events by which the sheriff’s office violated the court’s orders.

"For the Court to assess and impose a remedy that would fully address the Defendants’ violations and protect the Plaintiff Class, it will be necessary to address numerous factual issues that Defendants have not addressed in their proposed stipulations," reads the plaintiffs' response.

In preparation for the April hearing, lawyers for the plaintiffs have already scheduled several depositions with Maricopa County Sheriff's Office staff, including Arpaio, Sheridan and former MCSO attorney, Tim Casey. 

In an additional filing, the plaintiffs also told the judge that lawyer’s for the sheriff’s office had seemingly failed to turn over all the documents related to these violations that plaintiffs had requested.