Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, Chaffee Co, 10 May 2020 *Case dismissed w/o Prejudice* #102

[FromGermany1]

I'm confused about the gun, BM subsequently delivered to LE. Wasn't it like that?

 

[mrjitty]

Since we don't know they found one that is operable, I'm not so sure it's a problem. That isn't to say that he didn't speculatively tranquilizer her, the issue is proving it. So much would depend on what the "first" defending attorney's investigators documented that is useable and the strength of a potential second defense. Certainly there is a large amount of wishful thinking about a second trial, but I'm a pragmatic person. My gut tilts toward any second trial being quite different.

The accused himself said he was tranquillising deer only weeks before - therefore you would expect to be recovered the gun and paraphernalia for the undertaking.

if no such gun operable gun is found, that raises an evidential issue for the defence. It raises the inference that the defendant must have disposed of it, along with the chemicals.

What other explanation is there?

So it is an evidential issue for the defence, or else that adverse inference will be raised.

 

[coastal]

The accused himself said he was tranquillising deer only weeks before - therefore you would expect to be recovered the gun and paraphernalia for the undertaking.

if no such gun operable gun is found, that raises an evidential issue for the defence. It raises the inference that the defendant must have disposed of it, along with the chemicals.

What other explanation is there?

So it is an evidential issue for the defence, or else that adverse inference will be raised.

....

 

[mrjitty]

And if the jury isn't convinced that's how he did it, who cares? "How" is not an element that has to be proven. Some people might think strangled, despite Barry all but telling us he used the tranquilizer. Either way...

Agreed.

The key point is that he lied to explain a dart being found inside (Grusing tricked him).

It's not about how he did it - it's about the consciousness of guilt.

 

[FromGermany1]

There is a new video on YT (DSI), interesting re places and re his FF job possibly.

 

[Boxer]

This is only my opinion, but I have seen so many posts about the prosecution saying a firearm or tranq gun was inoperable, but it could be made operable with duct tape, that I feel compelled to comment.

The person who says an inoperable firearm can be made operable with duct tape is a person who doesn't know what they are talking about regarding firearms. A fired bullet releases gases that pushes a billet at an extremely high velocity and any "hillbilly fix" like duct-taping a gun barrel or breech or any other part of a gun just wouldn't work--or if it did work once, would likely injure the person firing it.

Maybe this is indicative of the prosecution team. It may explain why they dismissed the charges against BM--they are incompetent and don't know what they are doing.

MOO

BM used some tranq gun in the April before MD according to himself.
IIRC they got the shortened .22 a year later.

 

[Momofthreeboys]

BM used some tranq gun in the April before MD according to himself.
IIRC they got the shortened .22 a year later.

That was my understanding...the shortened .22 was legal in Indiana but not registered in Colorado where they are not legal and he voluntarily turned it over later. What weapons he owned and/or were seized that could fire tranquilizers is a different discussion.

 

[Boxer]

In one garage photo he had a "haystack" of rifles.

 

[Megnut]

In one garage photo he had a "haystack" of rifles.

Probably where he kept his needles.

There's the question for jurors:

Mr. Morphew, why was there a needle sheath in your pocket on 5/9?

JMO

 

[Momofthreeboys]

Probably where he kept his needles.

There's the question for jurors:

Mr. Morphew, why was there a needle sheath in your pocket on 5/9?

JMO

I thought they could not say for fact that the sheath was connected to Barry they made that assumption it was a sheath used for a tranquilizer dart - but didn't it have Suzanne and one of the daughter's touch dna perhaps because they were the daughters sheets in the dryer as well a pair of Barry's shorts and maybe because Suzanne loaded the dryer? I feel like we don't know everything about that sheath...only what was touched on in the preliminary. Yet another reason why I think the tranquilizer theory will "morph" in any future trial...it just feels fraught with potential issues.

 

[Love Never Fails]

And if the jury isn't convinced that's how he did it, who cares? "How" is not an element that has to be proven. Some people might think strangled, despite Barry all but telling us he used the tranquilizer. Either way...

Yes, either way…
I’m waiting for the next arrest. Waiting for justice. We know who the murderer is.

 

[Momofthreeboys]

The accused himself said he was tranquillising deer only weeks before - therefore you would expect to be recovered the gun and paraphernalia for the undertaking.

if no such gun operable gun is found, that raises an evidential issue for the defence. It raises the inference that the defendant must have disposed of it, along with the chemicals.

What other explanation is there?

So it is an evidential issue for the defence, or else that adverse inference will be raised.

They found a broken one I think. Or they found one and it hadn’t been used recently or both I can’t recall. All that tells us is that Barry admitted using it in in the past and tells us that gun wasn’t used the days the prosecution targeted as Suzanne’s disappearance. It would be pure speculation to say he threw it away or he had another gun in the absence of more info that we do not have. There isn’t even enough for the word “inference” in my opinion. It is more of a belief because a person wants to believe he tranquilizer her. There isn’t anything that connects his broken gun to a different gun to putting the different gun in a trash can in my opinion.

 

[FromGermany1]

BM used some tranq gun in the April before MD according to himself.
IIRC they got the shortened .22 a year later.

Thank you for answering my question this way. The .22 was given to LE a year later - why? Where came it from? Why was it not found by LE, when they searched the PP home even 2 times? Almost like KAK with his phone in the Delphi case - why give something to LE after one year, if they didn't find it themselves before? And when giving it to them, was it the original gun or a different one, never used by BM? Where and when did he get this gun?
And apropos the Delphi case: It makes me r.e.s.t.l.e.s.s. a bit, that in the Delphi/Indiana case there is some talk about a .22 also. Of all guns a .22 gun!, which is possibly hidden in BG's coach jacket. Only assumed by people, but nevertheless.

Maybe, I gradually am seeing ghosts, if too many coincidences pile up.

 

[CGray123]

They found a broken one I think. Or they found one and it hadn’t been used recently or both I can’t recall. All that tells us is that Barry admitted using it in in the past and tells us that gun wasn’t used the days the prosecution targeted as Suzanne’s disappearance. It would be pure speculation to say he threw it away or he had another gun in the absence of more info that we do not have. There isn’t even enough for the word “inference” in my opinion. It is more of a belief because a person wants to believe he tranquilizer her. There isn’t anything that connects his broken gun to a different gun to putting the different gun in a trash can in my opinion.

As others have pointed out in great detail, circumstances establish beyond a reasonable doubt that SM is dead. One can reasonably infer from the totality of the circumstances that she died shortly after BM arrived at Puma Path on Saturday, May 9, 2020. BM's motive, means, and opportunity to kill her and dispose of her remains are well established, not only by forensic evidence but by BM's admissions. One can readily infer his mens rea from the staging of the bike and helmet, the phony alibi, and the multifarious lies he told investigators.

Investigators now have the opportunity to refute more effectively any suggestion based on DNA that someone else killed SM, concealed her remains, and staged her bike and helmet. Once they do that, they can go back to the prosecutor and make the case to re-file, whether or not they find SM's remains.

Sheriff Spezze's commitment to do that is backed up by his retention of Grusing's services. The experienced FBI murder investigator was not hired to deal with the garden variety misdemeanor cases that form the bulk of the LE work in Chaffee County. He is working on SM's case. Nothing can be certain as to the outcome of his work, but I am certain LE has not given up on putting BM behind bars for killing her.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion, and your participation here (among others) helps to assure that WS cannot be justly accused of hosting a one-sided forum.

But with due respect for you and your POV, prosecutors easily recognize during voir dire people who see themselves as contrarians, or who by nature have a tendency to get lost in the details and forget the question that must be answered. Such people tend to impose a standard of proof that approaches perfection, in violation of the jury instructions. They rarely make it onto the jury panel, and when they do, their fellow jurors have an opportunity to persuade them to follow the instructions. MOO

 

[Momofthreeboys]

As others have pointed out in great detail, circumstances establish beyond a reasonable doubt that SM is dead. One can reasonably infer from the totality of the circumstances that she died shortly after BM arrived at Puma Path on Saturday, May 9, 2020. BM's motive, means, and opportunity to kill her and dispose of her remains are well established, not only by forensic evidence but by BM's admissions. One can readily infer his mens rea from the staging of the bike and helmet, the phony alibi, and the multifarious lies he told investigators.

Investigators now have the opportunity to refute more effectively any suggestion based on DNA that someone else killed SM, concealed her remains, and staged her bike and helmet. Once they do that, they can go back to the prosecutor and make the case to re-file, whether or not they find SM's remains.

Sheriff Spezze's commitment to do that is backed up by his retention of Grusing's services. The experienced FBI murder investigator was not hired to deal with the garden variety misdemeanor cases that form the bulk of the LE work in Chaffee County. He is working on SM's case. Nothing can be certain as to the outcome of his work, but I am certain LE has not given up on putting BM behind bars for killing her.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion, and your participation here (among others) helps to assure that WS cannot be justly accused of hosting a one-sided forum.

But with due respect for you and your POV, prosecutors easily recognize during voir dire people who see themselves as contrarians, or who by nature have a tendency to get lost in the details and forget the question that must be answered. Such people tend to impose a standard of proof that approaches perfection, in violation of the jury instructions. They rarely make it onto the jury panel, and when they do, their fellow jurors have an opportunity to persuade them to follow the instructions. MOO

For reasons that aren’t important my chances of ever being empaneled in a jury are not zero but extremely low

 

[GatorFL]

As others have pointed out in great detail, circumstances establish beyond a reasonable doubt that SM is dead. One can reasonably infer from the totality of the circumstances that she died shortly after BM arrived at Puma Path on Saturday, May 9, 2020. BM's motive, means, and opportunity to kill her and dispose of her remains are well established, not only by forensic evidence but by BM's admissions. One can readily infer his mens rea from the staging of the bike and helmet, the phony alibi, and the multifarious lies he told investigators.

Investigators now have the opportunity to refute more effectively any suggestion based on DNA that someone else killed SM, concealed her remains, and staged her bike and helmet. Once they do that, they can go back to the prosecutor and make the case to re-file, whether or not they find SM's remains.

Sheriff Spezze's commitment to do that is backed up by his retention of Grusing's services. The experienced FBI murder investigator was not hired to deal with the garden variety misdemeanor cases that form the bulk of the LE work in Chaffee County. He is working on SM's case. Nothing can be certain as to the outcome of his work, but I am certain LE has not given up on putting BM behind bars for killing her.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion, and your participation here (among others) helps to assure that WS cannot be justly accused of hosting a one-sided forum.

But with due respect for you and your POV, prosecutors easily recognize during voir dire people who see themselves as contrarians, or who by nature have a tendency to get lost in the details and forget the question that must be answered. Such people tend to impose a standard of proof that approaches perfection, in violation of the jury instructions. They rarely make it onto the jury panel, and when they do, their fellow jurors have an opportunity to persuade them to follow the instructions. MOO

I think @Momofthreeboys is simply pointing out that we have discussed lots of evidence here and much of it would not be included in any potential trial.

I agree with you that Barry had motive and probably opportunity. I have not seen anything presented that definitively shows the means. Instead I've seen a bunch of theories. The tranq dart thing is probably the craziest one.

I'm not as convinced as you are to Sheriff Spezze's commitment to justice in this case. While Linda Stanley holds the ultimate blame, the sheriff had a hand in charging Barry too early and we see how that worked out. Not very well for the pursuit of justice. However, if I were in Barry's shoes I would be nervous that charges could come at any time.

I know I am interested in the evidence that would be presented in a trial and how the defense counters it. I've said it before, the amount of BS he threw at the investigators seems to have sent them into disarray, and this is before the expert legal wrangling of the recently suspended Linda Stanley. This case reminds me a LOT of the Casey Anthony case and I fear that without a fantastic case a competent lawyer will be able to get Barry off. Iris did and she didn't even need to go to trial.

 

[waldojabba]

Chaffee County Sheriff John Spezze announced in a brief statement this morning his intention to seek re-election in the November 2022 General Election.

Sheriff Spezze Announces Bid for Re-election - by Jan Wondra - Ark Valley Voice

 

[Megnut]

Chaffee County Sheriff John Spezze announced in a brief statement this morning his intention to seek re-election in the November 2022 General Election.

Sheriff Spezze Announces Bid for Re-election - by Jan Wondra - Ark Valley Voice

Well, I think we can predict how Barry'll vote on that.

Suppose he'll throw in a second no for Suzanne?

Didn't know he couldn't?

JMO

 

[mrjitty]

It is the defence's own case that a tranq gun was used on 2 deer from the breezeway only weeks before the murder.

If no working gun was discovered then the only possibilities are

1. The gun was broken or rendered unusable in the interim
2. Barry disposed of the working gun
3. Barry lied and there never was a working gun... AND

4. In whichever case, also threw away the chemical agent on the day of the disappearance

None of this is speculative. In each case, it is within the defence's direct knowledge to explain. Failure to explain raises an adverse inference against the defence version.

This is just basic handling of circumstantial evidence.

In the real world the defence cannot just wave its hands at impossibilities in its own version. Of course what always happens in these situations, where the defendant cannot testify to explain, is that counsel will try to sock puppet some wild speculation on the accused's behalf.

But it is clear that if the defence can't explain where the working gun is, then Barry is lying, and Grusing played him - demonstrating the sensitivity of the accused to the possibility of a dart in the house

Any reasonable juror will draw their own conclusion (inference) from that

 

[Boxer]

I thought they could not say for fact that the sheath was connected to Barry they made that assumption it was a sheath used for a tranquilizer dart - but didn't it have Suzanne and one of the daughter's touch dna perhaps because they were the daughters sheets in the dryer as well a pair of Barry's shorts and maybe because Suzanne loaded the dryer? I feel like we don't know everything about that sheath...only what was touched on in the preliminary. Yet another reason why I think the tranquilizer theory will "morph" in any future trial...it just feels fraught with potential issues.

Agree. He is a monic slob and his crap is eberywhere. Peple say there was no interior decorating inside the PP home, just real estate staging, but after seeing the garage I would say she decorated the interior spaces full time by keeping it free of chaos.