GUILTY FL - Denise Lee, 21, raped & murdered, North Port, 17 Jan 2008

[Retired in NH]

It is also in the best interest of the prosecutor so that they can make sure they have a slam dunk case as well. They certainly dont want any leaks to get out that may hurt their prosecution.

 

[RiverRat]

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080128/BREAKING/13352675

SARASOTA COUNTY — An attorney for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune argued this morning that information in the Denise Amber Lee kidnapping and murder case should not be withheld from the media.

Attorneys for Michael L. King, 36, asked a judge for a gag order in the case and a 60-day delay in releasing public records, arguing the media scrutiny in the case would be impossible for him to get a fair trail.

Media attorney Rachel Fugate told Circuit Judge Deno Economou that the media coverage did not rise to the level of requiring a gag order.

***

The motions are similar to those filed in the early days of the case against Joseph P. Smith, who was sentenced to death in 2006 for the abduction, rape and killing of 13-year-old Carlie Brucia.

Attorneys for the media spoke against the gag order at that time, arguing the press and public are entitled to information about the case.

Judge Andrew Owens denied the gag order in the Smith case. But he provided attorneys a 60-day delay from the time the public defender’s office receives the evidence until the discovery documents are released to the media.

He also allowed prosecutors and public defenders to request that some of the materials not be disclosed publicly at all.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

That is what Voir Dire is designed to do...allow the attorneys to reject or select a jury pool that they feel can be fair and not having been swayed by the media or others.

What goes on before in the media or in public should not be a problem since they are allowed this way to select their jurors to their advantage. I have to side with the media.

 

[MeoW333]

King needs to be put to death and his idiot cousin needs to be accessory to murder. What kind of moron sees a bound and tied up girl crying for help and still gives his cousin a shovel and gas can??!! If it were me, i would have took down my cousin with a hit over the head with a shovel and waited for LE. Ridiculous, a shame that nothing was done for this poor girl.

 

[RiverRat]

King needs to be put to death and his idiot cousin needs to be accessory to murder. What kind of moron sees a bound and tied up girl crying for help and still gives his cousin a shovel and gas can??!! If it were me, i would have took down my cousin with a hit over the head with a shovel and waited for LE. Ridiculous, a shame that nothing was done for this poor girl.

http://www.sun-herald.com/Newsheadline.cfm?headline=9683

As Muxlow turned his back to shut the trailer, King walked to his car. The car was parked across the street from the house in the swale near Muxlow's mailbox. The car was facing Bessimer Avenue with the driver's side facing Muxlow's home. When Muxlow turned around, he saw King loading the items into the passenger side of the green Camaro. Then he heard a woman yell, "Call the cops!"

Muxlow said he asked his cousin, "What the .... is going on?"

"He (King) said to me, 'It's nothing, don't worry about it,'" Muxlow said. "I was used to my cousin having wacky girlfriends and telling tall tales. So at the time, I thought this was a spat between the two. My mother had told me things his (King's) mom said about him and his psycho girlfriends. He was just a bad judge of women he dated.

"The last time he brought a woman over for a few minutes, she didn't speak. Mikey did all of the talking. So I thought it was him being normal in having a fight with a woman."

Muxlow said he never saw a woman tied up or screaming.

"I saw a silhouette," he said. "I saw someone's head and a shadow of a knee coming up between the front seats. I did not see anyone trying to get out of the car, tied up or fall out of the car. I heard a voice yell one thing, and that was it."

However, when he watched King climb into the car on the passenger's side, Muxlow began to think the last two minutes of his cousin's visit were odd.

"He didn't open the trunk, he put all the stuff in the back seat on the passenger's side and then crawled in the passenger side to get to the driver's seat," Muxlow said.

 

[RiverRat]

http://www.sun-herald.com/Newsheadline.cfm?headline=9683

NORTH PORT -- Harold Muxlow Sr. says he hopes he's wrong, but he fears ex-nephew Michael King, who has been charged with the murder of Denise Amber Lee, may have harmed other women.

"I pray my gut instinct is wrong," he said. "But I've told police to check in Michigan and Homasassa (Florida) for missing persons."

Muxlow and his son, Harold Jr., spoke to the Sun from their dining room Sunday night. Muxlow Jr. wanted to explain why he scheduled, and then canceled, a press conference earlier in the day.

"I wanted to tell what really happened and what I saw and not what was reported by the media," Muxlow Jr. said of the exchange between him and his cousin, King, the evening Lee, 21, went missing. "A lot of what has been reported about me has been blown out of proportion. It's just not true."

*******

Muxlow said the next time he saw his cousin was about 2:45 a.m. Friday after he was arrested for kidnapping Lee. Muxlow was aware that King was not cooperating with police.

"When I talked to Mike, he said he was kidnapped and was trying to blame someone else," Muxlow said. "I tried to ask him in several different ways where the woman was. He wouldn't answer me. He only talked about other things. He was calm -- no tears and no emotion."

Muxlow Jr. said he wishes that the last few minutes he was with his cousin he could have seen more into the Camaro.

"I have not slept. I keep going over this in my head," he said. "I'm having trouble focusing at work. It just haunts me.

 

[bigbuck]

Thanks for the updates RR.

But Sabrina called the police before I did. I think she just added more to the story than what I told her.

And why would she make up things to tell police? I'm sorry I just don't believe it. Her father told her what he saw and she did the right thing. To bad for Denise old Harold didn't have the guts too.

:furious:

 

[bigbuck]

But Sabrina called the police before I did. I think she just added more to the story than what I told her.

Not even fifteen minutes later another witness reported seeing Denise screaming and fighting to get out of the car. I would think she was doing the same when she saw someone with KIng who could help her escape.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

http://www.sun-herald.com/Newsheadli...?headline=9683

NORTH PORT -- Harold Muxlow Sr. says he hopes he's wrong, but he fears ex-nephew Michael King, who has been charged with the murder of Denise Amber Lee, may have harmed other women.

"I pray my gut instinct is wrong," he said. "But I've told police to check in Michigan and Homasassa (Florida) for missing persons."


That is a disturbing statement!!!

 

[Retired in NH]

It seems to me he may have done this before. I am sure LE are looking into a lot of missing persons and unsolved murders. It would not surprise me if they do find out that this was not the first time for him. It almost seems like he wanted to get caught or he was daring LE to get him. Like it was a game to him.
I hope he rotts in H..l Sicko :furious:

 

[RiverRat]

http://www.sun-herald.com/breakingnews.cfm?id=4577

Circuit Judge Deno Economou today denied a gag order motion on the kidnapping and first-degree murder case against Michael Lee King, 36, according to the Sarasota Clerk’s Web site.

The judge heard arguments Monday from King’s attorney John Scotese, who said, "There is no recognized, valid community interest which would allow this dissemination of prejudicial information to continue."

 

[Bobbisangel]

Good! There is no reason for a gag order. I can't stand most defense attorneys anyway. Even if this creep does deserve a fair trial I don't see how anyone can defend people like him. That attorney knows that this creep murdered Denise. What can he say to a jury? I suppose all he can do is try to get him a deal to stay off of death row. Hang the creep now. There is no question to his guilt or innocense. When there is no doubt and they are caught red handed why let them live a second longer after the trial or sentencing if they plead guilty. It's a waste of states money and of the air that innocent people breathe.

If I heard a woman in a car scream "call the cops" and my cousin had just borrowed gas and a shovel red flags would be flying. Why didn't the cousin walk over to the car and look inside? He could have saved her life and so could the police after Denise called 911 and the other woman called. Even if she didn't say everything that she saw the police should have gotten involved right away regardless of who the person was. Everyone failed this young mother and wife. Did LE just ignore both 911 calls?

 

[Tranaice]

Yes, that is what it says essentially...altho...reading it again, I get the impression that Mrs. Kowalski downplayed what she was seeing when she made the call. She was reporting suspicious behavior, but the things we saw later that she told investigators after they carefully questioned her were not in the 911 call and without the input at the time directly relating to Lee's case...they did not connect the dots.

While we cannot release the actual contents of that 9-1-1 call at this time, we can tell you what is not in the 9-1-1 call:

1. The affadavit indicated that Mrs. Kowalski stated that “the driver kept pushing someone down in between the back seat of the vehicle.” This was not in the 9-1-1 call.

2. The affadavit indicated that Mrs. Kowalksi stated that “she then observed a female’s hand slapping the left passenger side window as if she were trying to get out.” Nowhere in the 9-1-1 call did she say “female” or “woman.”

3. The media reported that she indicated it was a green Camaro. She did not say green in the 9-1-1 call.

Mrs. Kowalski did a great thing in reporting what she had seen. We wish all citizens would take Mrs. Kowlaski’s lead and report all suspicious activities to authorities. but, what Mrs. Kowlaski was reporting to the 9-1-1 calltaker at that moment in the investigation, bore little resemblance to the call involving the search for Denise Lee.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080125/BREAKING04/164710838

I'm sorry, but the little resemblance it did bear should have brought the cops out to that area immediately. For goodness sakes, it was a camaro, someone was screaming in the back seat, slapping the window. Did they not connect the dots? The other call from King's cousin said she was bound in the back seat. There is NO excuse for them not checking out this call. Denise would probably be alive today and home with her two beautiful children and husband. This case just breaks my heart. I'm furious, I'm sad, just so many emotions are going on inside of me.

 

[RiverRat]

http://www.sun-herald.com/CHNewsstory.cfm?pubdate=013108&story=ch7.htm&folder=NewsArchive2

CHARLOTTE COUNTY -- A log of the Charlotte County Sheriff's dispatchers' communications at the time 21-year-old Denise Amber Lee was kidnapped Jan. 17 shows that dispatchers received a 9-1-1 call from a motorist who said she saw a child screaming and pounding on the window of a "very suspicious" car on U.S. 41 near Toledo Blade Boulevard.

The witness, identified by North Port Police as Janet Kowalski, even suggested dispatchers check to see if there was an "Amber Alert," which is a statewide alert system for kidnapped children.

Kowalski also described the suspect as a white male with light hair and described the vehicle as a "blue or green Camaro," according to the log, which was released Wednesday by the Sheriff's Office.

But the log doesn't indicate that sheriff's dispatchers issued a be-on-the-lookout bulletin, or "BOLO," specifically in response to that call, even though deputies were looking for a suspect, Michael L. King, 36, of North Port, and a car in the North Port area that either matched or were similar to the caller's descriptions."

 

[bigbuck]

Thanks again for the update RR. Damn this still hurts. Denise did everything she could to draw attention to herself. Then this motorist did everything she could to report it to police and save her. As small as Denise was and, with King pushing her down keeping her out of sight. I can understand someone thinking it was a child. Along comes this 911 dispatcher and the trail just STOPS!! WHy wasn't this smart, brave, young mother SAVED!!!!!

:furious:

 

[SeriouslySearching]

It is going to be at issue for a long time to come. If I lived in that community, I would be rallying troops to show some definite outrage that the 911 dispatcher is still on the job. How could you trust that the person's judgement the next time would be any different or the outcome would be any different?!

 

[bigbuck]

I edited my post and toned down my opinion of this dispacther since I've been taking some heat over my alleged (BASHING) of Reno LE over in the Brianna Denison thread.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

I have been known to bash LE when I feel they deserve it!! I don't care how much heat I take for it!!!! The differences in states, counties, and local authorities is SO dramatic. Some officers and departments are excellent while others I would not allow to guard my chicken coop (if I had one that is)!!!

 

[bigbuck]

I have been known to bash LE when I feel they deserve it!! I don't care how much heat I take for it!!!! The differences in states, counties, and local authorities is SO dramatic. Some officers and departments are excellent while others I would not allow to guard my chicken coop (if I had one that is)!!!

I think it started over there when a poster didn't like when you said we were ahead of LE on that case. All I did was agree that we knew there was a connection in the assault cases long before the DNA bit LE on their arse.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

I was just kidding in that once instance, but you never know who is going to take it wrong.

I still say there are some that deserve to be bashed.