Still Missing CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, Chaffee Co, 10 May 2020 *arrest* #89

[MassGuy]

Yes! Dateline was in Salida for Andy’s search and also when BM was arrested.

Don’t forget Carol McKinley was tagging and hash tagging ABC20/20 in her tweets from the Prelim.

That's right. I imagine all 3 news magazines will cover it at some point. 20/20 mainly does 2 hour episodes, so maybe they'll hold theirs until after trial.

 

[Volgal]

Does anyone know who the guy with the grey hair is in that promo? He has a radio voice.

No but he looks very familiar!

 

[Murphy1950]

The way I remember it, the spy pen was found in June and LE played the recording of JL conversation for SO and HW to see if they could identify JL by his voice. jmo
Looking for tweets with details.

page 28 of 129 AA
(Search of Residence on May 20, 2020)


On May 20, 2020, search efforts were still ongoing at the Morphew residence, searching for evidence related to Suzanne's disappearance. On this date, Detective Hysjulien located a writing pen, (that appears to be the "spy pen" Sheila Oliver referenced). The pen was located in a cloth bin amongst women's bras. The cloth bin and pen were inside the walk-in closet in the master bedroom, located on the ground level of the residence. Detective Hysjulien located, with the pen, the controller and headphones for playback and a USB cable.

 

[Momofthreeboys]

That is interesting. Why do you think evidence about his character will be disallowed ?Do you think evidence showing Suzanne's character in a negative light will also be disallowed?

Character evidence is only allowed for very specific reasons. Here's a pretty good primer on it. My guess is if the prosecution intends to introduce character evidence it will be challenged. I have no idea how much the prosecution will introduce regarding Suzanne although most likely they will use her affair to establish the concept of a motive. I have no idea who the prosecution is calling as witnesses so cannot speculate at all on what might happen during cross examination of those witnesses. We also have no idea yet who defense might call to the stand. https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/fre/rule_404

 

[Momofthreeboys]

I don't think that's true. Barry is literally the guy on trial. His character matters. His history of lying matters. A great many pieces of evidence that Barry is a liar have already been entered into evidence. Several of the witnesses for the prosecution are only there because they are character witnesses that Barry has a history of violence and lies.

The defense has done an incredible job of keeping the bad stuff from making headlines because most people won't read the AA and take their information only from the headlines. Hem and haw and go back, OMG the amount of "I want to go back" IE does, it reads like incompetence, but we know that's not the case. Delay, delay, delay. Delay the flow of information. It was a great strategy for the PH, but that will not fly at trial.

We don't know who the witnesses will be...just saying that rule 404 of rules of evidence and challenges are going to come into play or I'll eat my words

 

[Cindizzi]

page 28 of 129 AA
(Search of Residence on May 20, 2020)


On May 20, 2020, search efforts were still ongoing at the Morphew residence, searching for evidence related to Suzanne's disappearance. On this date, Detective Hysjulien located a writing pen, (that appears to be the "spy pen" Sheila Oliver referenced). The pen was located in a cloth bin amongst women's bras. The cloth bin and pen were inside the walk-in closet in the master bedroom, located on the ground level of the residence. Detective Hysjulien located, with the pen, the controller and headphones for playback and a USB cable.

Thank you, @Murphy1950 and @justtrish for pointing me to the AA !
I must have heard that June 2020 is when SO listened to the spy pen recordings. May have been in a LS ( Fox21) YouTube Live.
I need more coffee before I post

 

[justtrish]

Thank you, @Murphy1950 and @justtrish for pointing me to the AA !
I must have heard that June 2020 is when SO listened to the spy pen recordings. May have been in a LS ( Fox21) YouTube Live.
I need more coffee before I post

Of course!! Something very well may have happened in June with this spy pen info. I wasn't trying to disprove you saying it was June, I was just showing you where it was in the AA that it was all mentioned. I've been going through the AA again and had it open on my computer.

 

[justtrish]

Character evidence is only allowed for very specific reasons. Here's a pretty good primer on it. My guess is if the prosecution intends to introduce character evidence it will be challenged. I have no idea how much the prosecution will introduce regarding Suzanne although most likely they will use her affair to establish the concept of a motive. I have no idea who the prosecution is calling as witnesses so cannot speculate at all on what might happen during cross examination of those witnesses. We also have no idea yet who defense might call to the stand. Rule 404. Character Evidence; Other Crimes, Wrongs, or Acts

I think his character will be really apparent when the detectives are answering questions about how many lies he told. That is fact, not really any opinion about it if things are recorded in interviews and Barry says X, but then Y is presented later to him and his story changes to fit Y.. now the jury can see his character is pretty darn crappy and it isn't even being presented as his character. The jury will see right through all this and see exactly what kind of person Barry is.

What would really hammer it home is if they create a timeline with his statements and the date, then info they give him and the date and the story he then tells to fit that evidence. Just from reading the AA again, it's very clear this happens over and over again.

 

[mrjitty]

Character evidence is only allowed for very specific reasons. Here's a pretty good primer on it. My guess is if the prosecution intends to introduce character evidence it will be challenged. I have no idea how much the prosecution will introduce regarding Suzanne although most likely they will use her affair to establish the concept of a motive. I have no idea who the prosecution is calling as witnesses so cannot speculate at all on what might happen during cross examination of those witnesses. We also have no idea yet who defense might call to the stand. Rule 404. Character Evidence; Other Crimes, Wrongs, or Acts

A key question will be what is straight up character evidence (e.g. Barry is a bad person) and what is actually evidence of the state of their relationship. e.g past violent, abusive behaviour by Barry will certainly be relevant.

Barry's affairs or use of *advertiser censored* are interesting - but I am not sure they prove anything in relation to the case. We have to see what the prosecutions argument is.

 

[mrjitty]

I think his character will be really apparent when the detectives are answering questions about how many lies he told. That is fact, not really any opinion about it if things are recorded in interviews and Barry says X, but then Y is presented later to him and his story changes to fit Y.. now the jury can see his character is pretty darn crappy and it isn't even being presented as his character. The jury will see right through all this and see exactly what kind of person Barry is.

What would really hammer it home is if they create a timeline with his statements and the date, then info they give him and the date and the story he then tells to fit that evidence. Just from reading the AA again, it's very clear this happens over and over again.

That isn't character evidence.

That is evidence that goes directly to the veracity and credibility of Barry's statements to law enforcement. That stuff is certainly admissible.

 

[Tumbleweed]

The way I remember it, the spy pen was found in June and LE played the recording of JL conversation for SO and HW to see if they could identify JL by his voice. jmo
Looking for tweets with details.

Found it in the AA, page 28/129: They found the spy pen on the May 20th search of the residence. So Sheila told them about it on May 11th and they found it on May 20th. I'm so glad Sheila told them about it right away. For some reason I was thinking it was much later...

 

[Seattle1]

And again...in my opinion whether or not he was looking for an affair or a one night stand it is not relevant to the case. LE couldn't find any evidence he did and even if they did it's not relevant in my opinion to the charge of Murder 1. It's just one more additional point that shows the marriage was on the rocks. I just can't see prosecution going down rabbit holes or this and that related to their marriage when it is so easy to establish that divorce was in the air and actively being discussed by Suzanne which is what preceded the events of May 9 and 10.

This is the type of evidence that can come out at sentencing. As a jurist, it's always good to hear more validation that the one and only party responsible is going away.

ETA: Reminder that there's much leeway in a PH vs Trial where the search history of a phone used by others is not likely admissible at trial.

 

[Seattle1]

The way I remember it, the spy pen was found in June and LE played the recording of JL conversation for SO and HW to see if they could identify JL by his voice. jmo
Looking for tweets with details.

I recall that LE found the pen inside a box in SM's closet. We also know that LE was looking specifically for the pen after May 11 conversation with SO. This was likely named in the first search warrant.

 

[mrjitty]

I don't think that's true. Barry is literally the guy on trial. His character matters. His history of lying matters. A great many pieces of evidence that Barry is a liar have already been entered into evidence. Several of the witnesses for the prosecution are only there because they are character witnesses that Barry has a history of violence and lies.

The defense has done an incredible job of keeping the bad stuff from making headlines because most people won't read the AA and take their information only from the headlines. Hem and haw and go back, OMG the amount of "I want to go back" IE does, it reads like incompetence, but we know that's not the case. Delay, delay, delay. Delay the flow of information. It was a great strategy for the PH, but that will not fly at trial.

As a rule of thumb, propensity evidence is not allowed. So in general the State cannot argue that guilt is more likely because Barry is the kind of guy that would murder his wife

But evidence of his lying to law enforcement or other key witnesses is certainly admissible. These go the veracity and credibility of his version.

It actually demonstrates why he has been so stupid - the foundation of the case against him, is the dumb things he said to police.

Anyway, short version - witnesses to contradict BM's version and statements are not character witnesses. There will of course be tight rules in terms of what they are allowed to say in front of a jury.

 

[mrjitty]

Textbook IE. It’s a good move for Barry. If the prosecution is unable to show that Barry-and Barry alone-used that phone, testimony regarding the web searches will never see a courtroom. I assume a battle on this point since MM2 is on the record stating that she never looked at/used Barry’s phone. This particular piece of his phone usage doesn’t bother me if it isn’t part of the case. As long as the phone is tied to him only for other important data points, all good.

BIB

A you sure about this? I think there is a strong presumption use of BMs phone was by BM. It would be up to the defence to establish a reasonable possibility someone else had been using it.

It just isn't possible for the prosecution to prove only BM ever used his phone

 

[mrjitty]

Dateline thing looks really good.

Helpful for noobs like me to get real visuals of the scene and locale

 

[al66pine]

Wildlife Behavior?
Did anyone else come across story* of mountain lion w elk kill at a Glenwood Springs, CO. home,** earlier this month?
The 1 min+ home cam video* shows elk dead at porch w mtn. lion, w blood smearing mouth & chest, hissing thru the window at resident.

Shows that mtn. lions hunt in residential areas and they may leave elk remains literally on a door step. At least this mtn. lion.

I recall waaay early on, someone saying elk antlers (and head?) were close to PP home shortly before or after SM's disappearance but do not recall specifics or the significance. Anyone? TiA

FYI, after ^ resident phoned Colorado Parks & Wildlife, agency employees removed the remains.

* Colorado man wakes up to find mountain lion devouring HUGE elk it had killed on his front porch | Daily Mail Online
** Salida to Glenwood Springs.
Driving distance & time: 147 mi. 3 hr. Via US-24 & I-70.

 

[Momofthreeboys]

I think his character will be really apparent when the detectives are answering questions about how many lies he told. That is fact, not really any opinion about it if things are recorded in interviews and Barry says X, but then Y is presented later to him and his story changes to fit Y.. now the jury can see his character is pretty darn crappy and it isn't even being presented as his character. The jury will see right through all this and see exactly what kind of person Barry is.

What would really hammer it home is if they create a timeline with his statements and the date, then info they give him and the date and the story he then tells to fit that evidence. Just from reading the AA again, it's very clear this happens over and over again.

There is a motion currently from defense to play the entire conversations with LE so we'll see how that turns out. But yes I think those interviews will play an important role. What is curious is that it is defense that is asking for the extra time to play them in their entirety for the jury. I'm very intrigued by that.

 

[mrjitty]

There is a motion currently from defense to play the entire conversations with LE so we'll see how that turns out. But yes I think those interviews will play an important role. What is curious is that it is defense that is asking for the extra time to play them in their entirety for the jury. I'm very intrigued by that.

This happened in the McStay case as well

IIRC the idea was to try to steer away from the incriminating moments and show the accused as more generally helpful.

 

[Seattle1]

There is a motion currently from defense to play the entire conversations with LE so we'll see how that turns out. But yes I think those interviews will play an important role. What is curious is that it is defense that is asking for the extra time to play them in their entirety for the jury. I'm very intrigued by that.

Be careful what you ask for. If they're talking about 100% of the interviews with no edits the defense could very well open the door to evidence otherwise suppressed/nonadmissible from the trial.