By Bill Kirkos, Darran Simon and Jessica Suerth

CNN

PHOENIX (CNN) -- Former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio claimed "nobody is higher than me," and told his deputies they could enforce federal immigration law in defiance of a court order, a prosecutor said Thursday in the closing arguments for Arpaio's criminal contempt trial.

But defense attorney Dennis Wilenchik blamed Arpaio's former attorney for not properly explaining the order issued by a federal judge -- and on the wording of the "ambiguous" order. Wilenchik contended that the prosecution of Arpaio, who served as sheriff of Phoenix's Maricopa County for more than two decades, is politically motivated.

Prosecutors say the former lawman, who once called himself "America's toughest sheriff," continued to make immigration arrests after he was ordered to stop -- and those actions violated the court order stemming from a separate racial profiling case.

How did we get here?

US District Judge G. Murray Snow first issued a temporary injunction in 2011, barring Arpaio from detaining people solely based on their immigration status. The judge issued a permanent order two years later.

Arpaio, whose legacy is marked by the soon-to-be-closed Tent City, an infamous outdoor jail in Arizona, contended that while he continued to carry out the patrols despite the order, he didn't intentionally disobey it.

If convicted, Arpaio could be sentenced to up to six months in jail.

Nine witnesses testified during the eight-day trial, including Arpaio's former attorney, Tim Casey, who was questioned by the defense during the occasionally contentious testimony.

US District Court Judge Susan Bolton is expected to make a decision in several weeks.

Arpaio's legal troubles

Arpaio's legal troubles started in 2007, when several Hispanics claimed he had discriminated against them.

Among the plaintiffs was Manuel Ortega Melendres, who was arrested in 2007 after the car he was in was pulled over by Maricopa County deputies. He had a valid visa at the time of the arrest.

According to a court order, Melendres was held for nearly nine hours in both MCSO and ICE custody. He was released once ICE officials verified the authenticity of his identification.

A federal investigation of the sheriff's office, opened in 2008, found it engaged in discriminatory policing and jail practices. The sheriff's office was notified of the formal federal investigation in March 2009 and for 18 months "consistently refused to cooperate" with it, the Justice Department said.

In September 2010, the federal government sued Maricopa County under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act as a result of the Justice Department's findings.

Three years later, Judge Snow ruled that Maricopa County's handling of people of Hispanic descent amounted to racial and ethnic profiling.

Last year, Snow asked the US Attorney's Office to file the criminal contempt charges against Arpaio and several subordinates because, he argued, they disregarded the court's directions, made false statements and attempted to obstruct further inquiry.

Prosecutors: Arpaio held himself above the law

John Keller, deputy chief of the Justice Department's Public Integrity section, said Arpaio told the court he "understood the exact situation of how the preliminary injunction applied, but made false statements to his attorneys and federal immigration officials to defy the Obama administration.

"In the defendant's own words, he made the decision. No one was higher than him," Keller said.

The prosecution argued that Arpaio raised millions in reelection campaign funds in large part due to his widely publicized anti-federal government stance.

"The defendant thought this day was never coming. But nobody gets to defy a federal judge's order," Keller said.

Keller played an excerpt from a Fox News interview with host Neil Cavuto, which took place at the time of the temporary injunction, in an attempt to show what he asserted was Arpaio's defiance.

"If you stop a car and suspect that the occupants might be illegal ... what does Joe Arpaio do after that?" Cavuto asked.

Arpaio said: "One thing I'm going to do, if it's some sort of ... crime, they're going to jail."

In another video played in court, Arpaio, speaking to a Mexican detainee through a translator, said: "Nobody is higher than me. I am the elected official, elected by the people. I don't serve any governor or any president."

Keller said Arpaio "continued to detain people all the way up until May 2013."

But defense attorney Wilenchik claimed Arpaio was unaware his officers were doing anything unlawful. He argued Arpaio didn't lie to his former attorney, Casey, about stopping the detentions.

Rather, Wilenchik said Casey "dropped the ball" and didn't clearly explain the order or seek clarification from Snow. "I'm not here to cry or castigate him. But he is at fault," Wilenchik said of Casey.

Wilenchik re-read testimony from the first day of trial when he questioned Casey.

"Let me ask it this way," Wilenchik said then. "Did you believe when you read that (preliminary injunction) that it was clear to you?"

"I thought that there was ambiguity," Casey said.

"If he thought it was ambiguous, why wouldn't a good lawyer seek clarification from the court before exposing his client to a possible contempt?" Wilenchik told Bolton.

Wilenchik said the only person who knew what Snow meant in his order "was Judge Snow himself."

"Nobody thought they were violating the order but I think it's easy to understand why the sheriff was singled out here," Wilenchik said, claiming the prosecution is driven by politics.

He challenged the prosecution's notion that Arpaio used his defiance of the order to raise money for his own re-election.

Arpaio's fall from grace

In November, Arpaio lost his bid for a seventh term to Paul Penzone, a former Phoenix police officer.

Arpaio's opinions and actions drew praise and rebuke during his 24-year run as sheriff. He insisted President Barack Obama was not an American citizen and that his birth certificate was fraudulent -- a claim that has been debunked.

In 1993, he established Tent City -- the infamous outdoor jail. Arpaio said the outdoor jail saved taxpayers money despite criticism that the facility was inhumane.

This spring, Penzone announced the closure of Tent City.

CNN's Bill Kirkos reported from Phoenix, Darran Simon and Jessica Suerth wrote and reported from Atlanta. Joe Sterling contributed to this report.