Federal prosecutors won an early victory when Judge Susan Bolton announced Wednesday she would allow a series of news clips of the sheriff discussing his immigration enforcement policies to be admitted as evidence.

The government is trying to prove criminal contempt, which means it must show Arpaio knowingly violated a judge’s order to stop his immigration patrols.

Several deputies have testified they violated the order, but none said they did so on orders from Arpaio. Many, in fact, said they were unaware of the order for a full year and a half after it was issued.

The defense has blamed poor communication from a former lawyer as well as negligence of the sheriff’s command staff in getting out the message.

If the judge finds Arpaio in contempt, the former sheriff could spend up to 6 months in jail.