Man accused of shooting two Phoenix officers avoided consequences of previous arrests

PHOENIX (AZ family) — Arizona family investigates He has obtained four mugshots showing Saul Bal in custody at various times, but there are dozens more from jurisdictions in Arizona, California and New Mexico.

Bal has been arrested and charged more than 40 times over the past 17 years, but appears to have avoided the full weight of the law on multiple occasions. Three of those cases occurred in the past two years.

On May 4, 2023, Phoenix police booked Bal into the Maricopa County Jail on two felony drug possession charges and one misdemeanor trespassing charge.

The release questionnaire indicates Bal was trespassing at a convenience store. Officers stated they found a white crystalline powder in his possession, as well as 21 pills near him on the ground. The questionnaire, filled out by the arresting officer, indicates the powder tested positive for methamphetamine. They suspected the pills were fentanyl.

Prosecutors did not immediately file criminal charges. A spokesman for the Maricopa County District Attorney’s Office said prosecutors asked police to conduct drug tests on the pills.

On Thursday, a Phoenix Police Department official reported Arizona family investigates that the police received the results of the laboratory tests two weeks later, but did not report those results to the prosecution.

But law enforcement officials also questioned why no charges were filed for methamphetamine possession.

The result is that no charges were filed against Bal. A Maricopa County District Attorney’s Office official said Bal would have been released by the court on his own recognizance, regardless of whether charges were filed or not.

But it’s likely that this case would have resulted in a plea deal worth more than a year in prison, and that Bal would have been in prison at the time of the police shooting if he had been prosecuted.

In November 2023, Bal pleaded guilty in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to charges of carjacking. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison, but that sentence was suspended, despite court documents referring to Bal as a habitual offender and an interstate fugitive.

If Bal had been sent to prison or jail in New Mexico, he would have been behind bars at the time of the Phoenix shooting.

In April 2024, Bal was sent to prison on charges from Navajo County, Arizona. The charges included possession of drug paraphernalia and shoplifting. He was sentenced to six months in state prison, but Bal only served three months. He was released in July and returned to the streets of Phoenix.

If Bal had served his full sentence, he would have been in prison until the end of September.

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