IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 *Arrest* #40

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Jealoushe said:
That is assuming, they did not have a translator present when he was brought in. He went voluntarily remember. With the FBI involved, I highly doubt they didn't go through the proper protocol.
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Oh, I'm also quite sure that they did. And I'm sure the defense will argue that they didn't - because they have little else to use in defense of the accused, IMHO.
 
bizzle2 said:
Legally he is not guilty of anything until the trial is done or he pleads guilty.

And he didn't confess to killing her. In his confession he said he "blocked out" and then went to get her from his trunk.

I'm not saying I believe him. But he did not confess to killing her.
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He confessed to kidnapping and that is a pretty serious crime. So serious that a Judge wisely has CR locked up to ensure the public is protected from any more of his antics that necessitates he "block" it from his memory. That's fine by me.
 
Qsuze said:
Are there any legal folks out there who can explain the basis for the charge of "first degree murder"? From my amateur sleuthing and addiction to TV murder mysteries, I thought this charge indicated premeditation and planning. It seems like this was a situation that started out with CR trying to flirt, and getting rebuffed, and then getting enraged. There's so much we don't know at this point, and maybe we never will, but I was just wondering if any LE types out there might be able to shed some light on the charge of first degree murder? Thanks in advance.
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Iowa First-Degree Murder

Homicide refers to a situation in which one person causes the death of another. Each state divides homicide into its own categories, but typically it's divided into murder and manslaughter. Regardless of how each state divides these crimes, murder is always a more serious crime than manslaughter.

Iowa defines murder as killing another person with express or implied "malice aforethought," which is basically a conscious intent to death or great bodily injury to another. Iowa divides murder into first-degree or second-degree murder, depending on the circumstances. As with other states, first-degree murder is the most serious homicide crime in Iowa, with the harshest penalties.

Iowa First-Degree Murder Statute

The following table outlines the basics of Iowa's first-degree murder law.

Code Sections Iowa Code Annotated § 707.2, Murder in the first degree.
What is Prohibited?
A person commits first-degree murder if he or she kills another person under any of the following circumstances:

  • Willfully, deliberately, and with premeditation.
  • While participating in a forcible felony.
  • While escaping or attempting to escape from lawful custody.
  • While imprisoned in a correctional institution. or city or county jail, intentionally kills a correctional officer, peace officer, public employee, or hostage.
  • While committing child endangerment under certain circumstances or assault, kills a child and the death occurs under circumstances that manifest an extreme indifference to human life.
  • While participating in an act of terrorism.
Penalty First-degree murder is a class A felony punishable by life in prison. If a person was under the age of 18 when he or she committed the crime, the person can be eligible for parole after serving at least 25 years.
 
Kapua said:
That's close to a confession.
The accused admitted to following Mollie and burying and concealing her body in the cornfield. Defense counsels will have their work cut out for them. IMHO, they will begin by arguing that the defendant was not apprised of (or did not understand his rights to 1) remain silent and 2) have an attorney present during questioning. I predict that the court will rule in favor of the prosecution on this point. Next, they will present an argument that he didn’t actually murder the victim – because he claimed to have “blacked/blocked out” that part of the crime. I hope the prosecution has recovered the murder weapon and/or the accused’s DNA. The state will need to be on its toes as well. It doesn’t appear as though the accused intends to enter a guilty plea, IMHO; otherwise, he would have allowed a public defender to represent him. There will be numerous delays and the trial will actually start in 2 years or so. I also predict a guilty verdict. We've all seen the odd not guilty cases, but this won't be one of them. MOO
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Following CR’s confession, if the autopsy had revealed nothing other than say, a head injury a possible defence might’ve been he got mad when she said she was calling police as he meant no harm, and grabbed at her to take away her phone. Then she tripped and fell, hitting her head, stopped breathing. He panicked and hid her body (not unlike earlier hit-by-a-car theories here.) Something like that could possibly lead to lesser manslaughter charges. But given the autopsy results of “homicide resulting from multiple sharp force injuries” that’s not going to happen.
 
The Farm said:
Ohhhhhh I thought I just read that they arrested him at 3pm at the trailer,,,will try to find it.
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"A medical examiner’s vehicle was seen pulling into that area, which was cordoned off by authorities around 5 a.m. on Tuesday morning."

Mollie Tibbetts Death Update: Where Was Her Body Found? | Heavy.com

Tue, Aug 21 sunrise was 6:25:21 am. They were out there in the dark looking for her body. Cordoned off at 5 am meaning she was found before that. Wouldn't want that job. :eek:
 
Warwick7 said:
There are things he can be held accountable for:
It is a crime not to report a death you know about. This can be said about CR. It is an obstruction of Justice to not report the death of someone. It can be a felony or a misdemeanor, depending on the state, the court, and the offense committed. Lying to a local police officer about your name is typically a misdemeanor.
And you could be charged with anything from discarding a human corps which is a misdemeanor or negligent homicide which is a felony.
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Aside from the most serious of CR's transgressions...

I have "acquantances" who used to shady things that involved fake ID's and other frauds. To this day they all spit on the ground whenever Osama bin Laden's name is mentioned. Ever since 9/11 (and because of it) the penalties for ID fraud have become more and more serious. What used to be a local beef, and a slap on the wrist, are now Federal crimes, especially with the new secure ID's being issued in states like Iowa. Lying to a cop about your name may be a misdemeanor, except when you back it up with a fake federally protected form of ID. And God help you if LE catches you with 2 ID's with different names on them, and your pictures on both!
 
Bravo said:
He had the right at any time. IMO they likely questioned him for many, many hours until he broke.
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Whatever CR told LE is devastating to his defense. So one of the first things his lawyers will do is look to see if there is some way to get it excluded. They will need to look at certain things: when was he questioned? By whom? Where? Was he in "custody" or was he free to leave? Did he know he was free to leave or did he think he was in custody. Was he given Miranda warnings? When, and was that recorded? Did he ever ask for a lawyer or infer he wanted one. If they can't get those statements CR made thrown out, things get really difficult for his attorneys. I wouldn't be surprised if the initial contact with him was informal, no Miranda. But then when he was formally interviewed he would have been Mirandized and the interview recorded. I'd like to know where that took place. Part of the report we have seen about him saying she was left "face up" I would guess were comments made in response to questions asked. They would ask him about details of the scene where her body was and then see if it matched up when they actually got there. Apparently it did, at least in that respect.
 
The use of "CCTV", or more current, "video surveillance", is not only about attempting to gain a direct view of a perp's face (which we know is not always successful), it also is for gathering data on overall physical appearance, gait, height, physical mannerisms and environmental and situational interactions.

At least some "VHS" or similar tape-based systems remain in use but I have no statistics. Current digital camera technology far surpasses VHS/Beta in video quality and usable coverage. But not all digital cameras offer those improvements, especially older, first and second generation devices. Current resolution (total pixels, i.e., 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 12+ MP) has increased dramatically but many older digital devices remain in place and are 'functional' and owners are reluctant to replace something that "works".

Higher resolution (5+ MP) provide more detail, which enables better zoom quality: the more detail contained within an image the better the zoom quality.

Lens choice, camera placement and aim also are critical factors to consider. Some cameras come with a fixed lens (not interchangeable), more expensive cameras offer a choice of lenses, such as narrow-angle or wide-angle, power zoom, etc. Some cameras also include pan/tilt/zoom capability in a consolidated unit while other cameras without those features may be mounted on pan/tilt mechanisms to achieve the same coverage and if the camera accepts interchangeable lenses a zoom model might be available.

If LE releases surveillance video and it appears 'blurry' it is usually a result of zooming of a lower-resolution image. Zooming the image recorded from higher resolution cameras provides a less 'blurry' result, with the highest pixel models providing excellent clarity.

The lowest resolution digital camera you purchase should be at least 2 MP (1920 x 1080) but I prefer 8+ MP (3840 x 2160 and better) for best quality and coverage capability. Prices are coming down (little by little and only to a point since 'technology pricing' tends to linger with certain devices), and recording devices and software currently available provide more features that meet and exceed most user's needs. You may use a computer or dedicated device, either of which must be powered on and functional 24/7/365 for true, total surveillance.
 
PrairieWind said:
Whatever CR told LE is devastating to his defense. So one of the first things his lawyers will do is look to see if there is some way to get it excluded. They will need to look at certain things: when was he questioned? By whom? Where? Was he in "custody" or was he free to leave? Did he know he was free to leave or did he think he was in custody. Was he given Miranda warnings? When, and was that recorded? Did he ever ask for a lawyer or infer he wanted one. If they can't get those statements CR made thrown out, things get really difficult for his attorneys. I wouldn't be surprised if the initial contact with him was informal, no Miranda. But then when he was formally interviewed he would have been Mirandized and the interview recorded. I'd like to know where that took place. Part of the report we have seen about him saying she was left "face up" I would guess were comments made in response to questions asked. They would ask him about details of the scene where her body was and then see if it matched up when they actually got there. Apparently it did, at least in that respect.
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If he had an attorney present during questioning, would the attorney be okay with CR leading LE to the body? Seems counterproductive. I'd like to know when he was Mirandized also.
 
MsBetsy said:
Why and how would Mexico pay the Bill? I don't get it.
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Ummmmm I do not think Mexico would pay the bill and they certainly do not want him back there. They have enough and this is one less in their prisons which is where he really needs to serve his sentence because they do not have nearly what our prisoners get in USA prisons. Sure we have some bad ones but all theirs are bad.
 
Jerrod said:
"A critical break in the case was finding a local person with security cameras showing Tibbetts jogging, Rahn said.

"Through that we were able to identify a vehicle that we believed belonged to Mr. Rivera," Rahn said.

"From that we were able to track his patterns and the routes that he took. We were also able to find Mollie running on this video and we were able to determine that he was one of the last ones to have seen Mollie running."

Body found believed to be missing Iowa jogger; murder charge filed
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Thank you. I thought I remembered reading this.
 
ChuckMaureen said:
The use of "CCTV", or more current, "video surveillance", is not only about attempting to gain a direct view of a perp's face (which we know is not always successful), it also is for gathering data on overall physical appearance, gait, height, physical mannerisms and environmental and situational interactions.

At least some "VHS" or similar tape-based systems remain in use but I have no statistics. Current digital camera technology far surpasses VHS/Beta in video quality and usable coverage. But not all digital cameras offer those improvements, especially older, first and second generation devices. Current resolution (total pixels, i.e., 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 12+ MP) has increased dramatically but many older digital devices remain in place and are 'functional' and owners are reluctant to replace something that "works".

Higher resolution (5+ MP) provide more detail, which enables better zoom quality: the more detail contained within an image the better the zoom quality.

Lens choice, camera placement and aim also are critical factors to consider. Some cameras come with a fixed lens (not interchangeable), more expensive cameras offer a choice of lenses, such as narrow-angle or wide-angle, power zoom, etc. Some cameras also include pan/tilt/zoom capability in a consolidated unit while other cameras without those features may be mounted on pan/tilt mechanisms to achieve the same coverage and if the camera accepts interchangeable lenses a zoom model might be available.

If LE releases surveillance video and it appears 'blurry' it is usually a result of zooming of a lower-resolution image. Zooming the image recorded from higher resolution cameras provides a less 'blurry' result, with the highest pixel models providing excellent clarity.

The lowest resolution digital camera you purchase should be at least 2 MP (1920 x 1080) but I prefer 8+ MP (3840 x 2160 and better) for best quality and coverage capability. Prices are coming down (little by little and only to a point since 'technology pricing' tends to linger with certain devices), and recording devices and software currently available provide more features that meet and exceed most user's needs. You may use a computer or dedicated device, either of which must be powered on and functional 24/7/365 for true, total surveillance.
Click to expand...
Could you say that again, please? So are you saying LE has the technology to perfect the image so they can get a clearer picture of him?
 
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