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TUCSON - Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is famous for his tent cities, chain gangs and immigration enforcement.

Sheriff Joe wasn't in a Pima County court today. Rather attorneys were there arguing over who controls old emails written by Arpaio's personnel.

Attorneys representing Arpaio say the sheriff's department thought its emails were automatically deleted after 28 days. Then the department recently learned Maricopa County has an emergency backup tape that has sheriff's department and other department emails dating back to 2008.

There's a court fight because some of the emails could play into legal cases involving Sheriff Arpaio.

Already a federal grand jury has subpoenaed the email tape. The Arizona Attorney General's office indicates it wants some of the emails. And Maricopa County officials sent the tape to a vendor out of state to produce the subpoenaed records.

When court started Wednesday, Arpaio's attorneys demanded the tape. And the county refused to provide it because it involves other departments.

Wednesday afternoon a judge told the two sides to get together and try to work out a settlement.

They're expected to bring it back to court on March 29.