IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 *Arrest* #39

[Hatfield]

Yeah they move onto the arraignment. It should happen soon, it will be just like the first hearing - 1 or 2 minutes - but they will ask how he pleads. If it is significantly delayed it could mean the state and defense are working out a deal but it is almost never this early. Both sides want a chance to look at the results of any forensics.

Thanks. That makes perfect sense.

Im preparing myself for a not guilty plea because so many perps always plead not guilty even when evidence seems very strong they committed the crime.

This is JMO from watching past trials.
I learned of a couple reasons why a defense lawyer typically will encourage a defendant to plead not guilty at the arraignment of the charges. I am sure there are many more reasons but two of them are because

1-pleading not guilty starts a long delay process before a trial would ever get started and so much can change over time before the trial.
Witnesses may disappear or become unavailable, other legal wrongdoings related to the prosecution side may happen or be uncovered, many other changes can happen that favors the defense side of things over time. Its basically a delay to see what surfaces over time that the defense can use against the prosecution.

2-A defendent can always change their plea anyway at some point in the future so it doesnt hurt them to plead not guilty at first even if they plan to change their plea to a guilty plea.

 

[whiskers]

I do think it’s important to highlight the many different identities a person who is in the United States illegally can use. The man who stalked, harassed, and cyber stalked me for over 10 years used a fake name and no doubt had a fake ID card. He is from another country, but he easily hid behind his new identity.

When they harass people or worse, commit murder, it makes it even harder to figure out who they truly are and how many identities they have used over a given amount of time. In this huge immigrant debate, people lose sight of fake identities that are assumed and how dangerous it can actually be. To this day, I don’t even know this man’s identity that harassed me for over a decade.

 

[MistyWaters]

The United States has an extradition treaty with Mexico. The suspect can flee, but he would have been likely caught in Mexico.

It’s never been stated who knew him by his fake name, other than his employer. But if he had suddenly disappeared, that could certainly complicate matters.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

I was visiting a large city in MI (East Lansing), must have been around 86? Anyway, on the news that night they were reporting on the murder of a young woman who had stopped at a light, someone hopped into the car with her and assaulted her, in broad daylight, on a busy street. That's when we were all cautioned to roll up our windows and lock our car doors.

The case you mentioned is heartbreaking. Thank you for mentioning it.

We have been seeing broad daylight violent crimes happening for quite a long time now. Now it seems crimes like this are not cloaked in darkness any longer.

We have seen so many cases where children were abducted in broad daylight right on a busy street by predators who then raped and murdered them. It is as if the suspects are becoming bolder.

We have seen deadly home invasions being done during daylight hours. Businesses are being robbed during daylight hours. Some resulting in the owner or employees being stabbed to death or shot.

At one time most burglaries took place in darkness to prevent any confrontation from happening. Now more and more criminals don't seem to care if anyone is home or not. The value of human life seems to continue to decline.

It's scary though because most people feel the safest during daylight hours but the truth is we can be at risk no matter what hour of the day or where we may be.

 

[wary]

All possibly true. But don't you think the impact of his being in the US for a long-ish period of time might have had an impact on his current psychology? He has supposedly been in the US from the time he was relatively our. It is unclear if he ever went to school in the US but he would have been quite small when he 'left' Mexico so not sure how much he would remember.

I believe he left Mexico and came to the United States when he was 16.

 

[Deleted member 227095]

I believe he left Mexico and came to the United States when he was 16.

I've heard everything from 7 to 15 or 16 for the entry date! I seriously question if we/US Govt. knows who this person actually is at all. I'm curious if the Govt of Mexico even knows who this person is either? Wonder what Homeland Security has done to verify that the person being charged is in fact the person whose name is on the arrest warrant?

 

[Arog]

How does someone with a 7th grade education come up with the idea of 'black out' to support the idea of diminished responsiblity at the time the interview for the arrest document is prepared? Seems quite improbable. Does anyone know at what point the perp had access to counsel? Did he have access to counsel prior to making statement to LE? The 'black out' statement in the arrest document has bothered me from the second I first read the document. Who comes up with that on their own? I wonder if counsel interferred and pushed this view with perp? Entire concept seems far fetched and legally quite convenient.

Personally I think he was completely shocked when those detectives pulled up to that trailer. As the lead detective emphasized the neighbor's security camera was extremely valuable. Without it they would still be looking for her

 

[Deleted member 227095]

He had counsel for 5 weeks, not legal counsel but his own.

I don't believe the idea of 'black outs' is insurmountable for the prosecution but its irritating that they would have to legally spend/waste time on this aspect of the situation when there most likely are better uses for their time in this case. It just seems like this was a ploy put out there by a desperate defense atty to waste time/$ to buy time for some reason. Smacks to me of distraction pure and simple.

 

[MassGuy]

I've heard everything from 7 to 15 or 16 for the entry date! I seriously question if we/US Govt. knows who this person actually is at all. I'm curious if the Govt of Mexico even knows who this person is either? Wonder what Homeland Security has done to verify that the person being charged is in fact the person whose name is on the arrest warrant?

All we know is that they have verified his true identity. Thus far, LE has been unwilling to provide the alias that he was using, when he gave false information to his employer.

 

[MistyWaters]

I hope, as a matter of principle, that RT and other family members do not have the ability to influence the charges that CR faces.

I don't know how the Iowa legal system works, but if it follows that of other states that I'm familiar with, CR's crime is against: "the people of the state of Iowa." Mollie's family has the power to personally forgive, but they, in my opinion, do not and should not have the ability to influence the nature of the charges.

Note that voluntary manslaughter charges would allow him to get out of prison while he's young and strong and easily able to murder other girls.

I’d also hope the general public doesn’t have the ability to influence the charges either, at the risk of this case becoming anything other than fair and just. Especially because we know little or nothing in terms of “facts”.

However my opinion comes by a Canadian slant whereby neither prosecutors nor police chiefs are elected officials.

 

[Deleted member 227095]

All we know is that they have verified his true identity. Thus far, LE has been unwilling to provide the alias that he was using when he gave false information to his employer.

I am glad you are confident that the perp is who they say he is! I'm not there yet especially if more of his alias's come to light. I am very curious though about who exactly owns the cars. My expectation is that we don't yet know because Homeland Security and the State of Iowa have been running through hoops to figure it out most likely due to yet more false documentation. JMO BTW!

 

[TL4S]

I've heard everything from 7 to 15 or 16 for the entry date! I seriously question if we/US Govt. knows who this person actually is at all. I'm curious if the Govt of Mexico even knows who this person is either? Wonder what Homeland Security has done to verify that the person being charged is in fact the person whose name is on the arrest warrant?

Media was able to track down his father in Mexico, though. Wouldn't that have to be based on the name he's known as by those outside his employer? That being said, we don't know if he has other identities he's used in the past/present.

 

[Tiger Stripes]

Rivera’s new attorneys have waived his preliminary hearing, which had been scheduled for August 31st.

They’ve also filed a motion to withdraw any previous motions filed by Richards while he represented Rivera – that includes a motion for a gag order.

Online court records show the attorney that represented him during his initial appearance last Wednesday, Allan M. Richards, is no longer his counsel. Documents show Chad R. Frese of Kaplan & Frese, LLP and Jennifer J. Frese, of Johnson, Bonzer & Barnaby, P.C. are now representing Rivera.

Suspect in Mollie Tibbetts’ Murder Gets New Counsel, Waives Preliminary Hearing

==
All very interesting. Two other interesting items: a.) Allan Richards was quoted by Iowa media as saying (my paraphrase) that he didn't even *know*/had not been told of his client's plan to change attorneys, and b) With Chad Frese's hourly rate at $250 (not sure of Jennifer Frese's hourly rate), I'm wondering how CR or his family can possibly afford to foot the bill. Would this be a pro bono thing? Or...could there be a large organization helping to cover what potentially could run into tens of thousands of dollars of legal fees? Is that information (self-pay, or paid "on behalf of" a client) available in a public document, I wonder?

 

[Jaclin]

I agree. HE CONFESSED by his own admission he killed. Secondary is he led LE to her body folks.

And yes this case is very weird. And yes it will become more so. I think he will go through even more counsel.

Keep in mind. Lawyers can read. No offense to attorneys here. They may incorporate social media and blogs in his defense.

technically, he only confessed to stalking her, putting her body in the trunk, remembering he put her body in the trunk, and disposing of her body in the cornfield, face up, with corn leaves covering her to hide what he did. killing is the one thing he didn't confess to, but obviously he isn't implicating anyone else as being with him when this happened. he could claim the aliens killed her while he was blocking reality out.

 

[bizzle2]

Unrelated, but IMO, a 7th grade education doesn't necessarily equate to low intelligence.

There are certainly outliers as with anything else, but generally it does. Same as a Harvard graduate doesn't necessarily mean that person is more intelligent than a high school dropout, but I'll take my odds with the Harvard grad.

I think people are thinking too much into this guy. It's pretty common for bad people to do bad things. Assuming he did it, there is nothing about it that makes him smart or mentally wrong. There is such a thing as a bad person.

 

[DizzyB]

That bothered me, too. Thus I brought it up a few days ago. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had help making up that story. He also had 5 weeks to Google his heart away.

I wonder if he had a PC or just a cell phone. I assume that his search history will come into play, before AND after the crime. I hope by now LE knows enough to review histories on all browsers-not the way they overlooked Firefox and “fool proof suffocation” in the Casey Anthony case.

 

[SteveP]

I keep seeing references to CR's 7th grade education as some definitive indication that he is of low intelligence. I know people with advanced degrees, that if you take them out of their realms of expertise, you might think the same thing of them. To me, his 7th grade education mostly means he probably can't do algebra or trig or calculus, he probably hasn't read Shakespeare, and he probably doesn't know what the Periodic Table is. It means nothing when it comes to his daily functioning. Btw, admittedly, it was in a different time, as I am in my early 60's, but my mom quit school after the 10th grade, because she was needed to work on the family farm, but to this day, she remains probably the smartest woman I have ever known. JMO

 

[RANCH]

I don't believe the idea of 'black outs' is insurmountable for the prosecution but its irritating that they would have to legally spend/waste time on this aspect of the situation when there most likely are better uses for their time in this case. It just seems like this was a ploy put out there by a desperate defense atty to waste time/$ to buy time for some reason. Smacks to me of distraction pure and simple.

If this case goes to trial you can expect plenty of defense diversions.

That's their job. What's sad is when jurors fall for it. JMO

 

[Al Hoffman]

There's also that small detail on the arrest warrant where the box for "known date and time of incident" is filled: No.

There you go again Otto, with that pesky engineer's heart of yours!

The 'No' in the known date and time box simply means that the LEO can't swear to an EXACT time for the crime, but in the next 4 boxes he does give a date of 18 July for the date and a time range ending at 20:28. In that he affirms that on 18 July BY 20:28 the crime of Murder in the 1st degree was committed by CR. This is a sworn affidavit and the LEO can't lie on it, but must give his best good faith estimate of when the crime occurred. This also gives the LEO a bit of wiggle room when testifying, to avoid being beaten up by the Defense over small time discrepancies; because the time of the occurrence is a best guest estimate at the time of the filling, and can be firmed up as more facts emerge. It does not have to be exact, but it should be close.

 

[Jaclin]

I think so too. The ACLU already issued a statement on the case, as soon as Trump jumped into it.

well, lets hope they don't need that money later to help someone who is actually innocent.