Still Missing CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, Chaffee Co, 10 May 2020 *arrest* #99

[mrjitty]

It isn’t voluntary.
I guarantee that the majority of people know and like, or even admire someone who they think is a great person but they are truly an abusive, manipulative narcissist. The ones who aren’t fooled are people who have survived being a target of a narcissist.

Exactly. Everyone actually likes the narc more than the victim - that was my experience of the dynamic.

Indeed it was only a perceptive few, who could see through it.

 

[mrjitty]

The victim is not in trial here, and equating the victim and killer in that way (implying both abusers), is absolutely insane.

Barry was abusive, that is not in dispute. Although there is little evidence that the abuse was physical (he did admit to striking her once), it's the psychological abuse that is most damning.

He threatened to kill himself if she left, which is an abusive form of control. It also happens to precede murder in a large number of cases.

So the DV isn't merely important as an enhancer, as it also sets the stage for what came next.

It's important.

It reminds me of Pistorius who splashed his girlfriend's brains all over the toilet wall, which the judge called a normal loving relationship.

Barry threw SM down an old mineshaft somewhere, and we are going to wonder if there really was domestic abuse just like SM warned .... ?

Sigh.

 

[fcavanaugh]

IMO there are people here and elsewhere that willfully ignore all the evidence which points clearly to one person responsible for eliminating Suzanne from this earth. These are the same people who push SODDI or Gone Girl and when challenged, aren’t able to come up with a logical, rational argument as to how either of those things can be true and also explains the mountain of evidence against BM. They continually and shamefully engage in victim blaming, some of whom are very skilled at passive aggressively doing so while at the same time feigning wanting Justice for Suzanne.
It’s easy to see through and I don’t know, can only guess, that some of these people are either family and friends of BM, attracted to BM (gag!), hate the government, or have a seething hatred for Suzanne because she had an affair and feel she deserved to die for doing so.

The only argument I’ve seen offered to explain how SODDI or Gone Girl is a possibility and also explain all the evidence against BM was that BM was known to run off after arguments with Suzanne. Sure he might have run off after arguments and I’ve personally known people that do that too to blow off steam or whatever, BUT it’s a very weak argument to make when considering the totality of all the other things that went down that fateful MDW and all that BM did that flies in the face of and makes no sense for someone just running off to blow off steam or whatever after an argument. I won’t go into all of his lies and what else he did that weekend that makes running off after an argument a weak argument as it has all been pointed out and discussed ad nauseum on these threads, except to say not least of which of his lies was the whopper he told before he was supposed to even know Suzanne was missing, which was saying he was at the wall with workers present when he got the call when digital evidence (which doesn’t lie) proves he was really at the hotel when he got the call.
There is zero reason to lie about ANYTHING when your wife turns up missing and we know BM lied and lied often in his hours of interviews with LE, but this particular lie he told about saying where he was when he got the call is a massive (proven) lie that should tell you all you need to know.

Having said all that, I know it won’t change anyone’s mind that’s blinded by their loyalty to BM (family, friends), or by their infatuation with BM, their hatred for the government or their hatred for Suzanne. There will always be these types of people that ignore the evidence and relentlessly blame the victim. I’ve seen it in countless cases, just like there will always be deluded women/men writing fan letters to convicted killers in prison, offering up marriage proposals, you name it. From Bundy to Manson, Peterson and Watts, the list goes on. They all had/have their deluded fans/followers, and BM is no different. If he’s convicted and goes to prison (where he belongs imo), I expect there will be a long line of fans writing him letters of support, love letters and offering up marriage proposals. Just wait for it because it will happen if he’s convicted, as history has proven over and over again. SMDH.

IMHOO

#FindSuzanne
#BringSuzanneHome
#JusticeForSuzanne

 

[Megnut]

It is easy to grow disheartened.

Let us remember -- this really isn't about justice for Suzanne. Her justice -- the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness -- was stolen on 5/9.

This is about justice for Barry IMO. It's about his right to life, liberty and justice, and I hope justice is allowed its course in court, resulting in a conviction, and LWOP, severely restricting his liberty, from here forward.

Let us remember that the defense is paid to work around the clock and they are being paid handsomely to do so.

The DA's office is subjected to all kinds of covid-related issues. We see that across the country. Staffing shortages, clerical backlogs.

The defense is pouncing on every thing they can. Because it's all they've got.

If you look at these discovery violations, there's nothing there IMO that impacts Barry's right to a fair trial. The RR is not, was not and will never be a crime scene. No sex offender from Illinois or Arizona or anywhere else was in Suzanne's car, and no one was in Suzanne's car on 5/10. Not Suzanne. Just Barry, when he removed her bike. Because she asked him to. While she was...dead.

The dog. That's been wholly debunked. He was searching for scent. It probably looked promising to the LE on site, to officers who were tricked into believing Suzanne went missing from that location.

Sounds like the dog did what it was trained to do. Searched for scent based on the item supplied. Dog never alerted. So much so it was simply a non-event.

The defense wants all of us to think that Barry is being tried because of these early "mistakes" -- the DNA, the dog -- but those are gross interpretations, at best -- and have a judge, who appears to be short-staffed and time-crunched himself, believing that a dog followed Suzanne's scent to a log and that three outstate criminals touched a couple of Suzanne's things (they did not) and are legitimate SODDIs (they are not).

IMO Barry's defense is abusing the system. Conflating technicalities. Mining memos for typos, having hissy fits over discovery delays over discovery they already have, massaging the judge with histrionics and false piety...

Which is what they're being paid to do. Obscure the truth and try like hell to get their client off on a weak technicality.

Because the facts in this case are devastating.

If 12 jurors believe that Suzanne died relative to the cessation of her digital presence and her miserable husband was the only person there at the time, and that his movements were rapid and directed, there's only one verdict to return.

The rest is just details.

JMO

 

[DeDee]

Well as they give their opinion, the defense can come back with: “And you will admit you are not testifying as an expert right?” They would say no and what is the jury left to think?

“And you will admit you are not testifying as an expert right?”

The DT will ask that question throughout the trial, if allowed, right?

If 12 Experts, of the 14, have been stricken from allowing their deemed declaration as being an experienced and educated Expert then these Experts will continue to add substance to the case of Murder1 against BM, right?

These grave actions gift the DT and may prove to be advantageous due to Prosecutors minor, yet, continual double fault penalties. Judge, as a referee, has overstepped his power within the law by diminishing what Suzanne endured during their marriage until the day BM killed her.

It is as if watching a distasteful movie about how to influence the experts' testimony bc the Prosecutors must very heavily, and unreasonably, punished yet the trial still is a go at the end of the month. I'd call the Judge's bluff and file appeals, on Suzanne's behalf, to the superior court. asap
.

 

[Diddian]

“And you will admit you are not testifying as an expert right?”

The DT will ask that question throughout the trial, if allowed, right?

If 12 Experts, of the 14, have been stricken from allowing their deemed declaration as being an experienced and educated Expert then these Experts will continue to add substance to the case of Murder1 against BM, right?

These grave actions gift the DT and may prove to be advantageous due to Prosecutors minor, yet, continual double fault penalties. Judge, as a referee, has overstepped his power within the law by diminishing what Suzanne endured during their marriage until the day BM killed her.

It is as if watching a distasteful movie about how to influence the experts' testimony bc the Prosecutors must very heavily, and unreasonably, punished yet the trial still is a go at the end of the month. I'd call the Judge's bluff and file appeals, on Suzanne's behalf, to the superior court. asap
.

Totally agree. This judge could well allow the prosecution to present its entire case - hobbled by his sanctions - and then declare a dismissal. At that point, a jury will have been seated, heard the entire case, denied the opportunity to serve as the jurists they were seated to serve as, and there would be no retrial. It would not be the first time a judge stepped in and denied the jury the chance to deliberate and make its own findings.

 

[Megnut]

Or maybe the defense wants us (J.Q. Public) to think the Prosecution is bumbling -- and running scared.

It's all still bound over for trial.

The defense will wear out their voices objecting, of driving home mere lay opinions, but that's just court theatrics. The jurors won't know they could've, would've been experts. The defense will represent all kinds of puffery in their opening remarks, points they'll never address, in the hopes of swaying a juror to put Suzanne on trial, or to Furmanize LE, as if this was a half-assed arrest following a half-assed investigation, which they were not. The sheriff was beyond wise to call for back-up immediately. Barry was outgunned.

See, Barry thought he just had to convince Suzanne's daughters that Suzanne disappeared while he was away -- just Suzanne's daughters and the local yokum police. Oh, but did he mispredict! Sheriff is smart. The dog never picked up Suzanne's scent but the sheriff did. His deputies smelled a rat.

It is wrong IMO for the court not to consider that Suzanne is still missing to be evidence pointing directly at Barry, who had the skillset and mindset to disappear a body. A mountain lion isn't tidy. An abductor doesn't stage a bike, burn a journal, take time to toss a helmet. Gone girl could come back now. Only a hunter and a predator and an earth-mover/hardscaper/land-surveyor (he knows mines), whose wife wanted out of a sick marriage, would have both reason and ability to conceal the murder...

He shouldn't get special consideration for that! No, it should add boulder-weight to the case against him.

Someone upthread summarized it best -- Suzanne died of domestic homicidal violence, the culmination of a pattern of subtle, erosive domestic violence.

We need to call it what it is.

JMO

 

[OldCop]

Op has stated many times that she cares about trials in general and isn’t emotional about it. That in itself is a game. (Who has the best cards and will play them the right way.).

This is absolutely a game and most lawyers will admit it. The defense doesn’t give a d—- about Barry Morphew. Nor about Suzanne Morphew. Judge L has ruled in favor of defense motions most of the time. He doesn’t even recognize DV when it is in his face.

Whether prosecution is bumbling this case on purpose or because they are incredibly stupid begs the question: why? Why forfeit the “game”?

It appears they all want a murderer to walk the streets. And sadly this is happening across America.

I totally agree, @Love Never Fails. I don’t think a lot of people understand that defense attorneys do not care whether their client is guilty or innocent. It is all a game; a game of one upmanship. Their sole job is to get the client off. The victim is not taken into consideration. The defense attorney may look at the evidence against his/her client and may recommend that the client take a plea. This is not because the defense attorney wants justice for the victim, but because they don’t think they can win against the evidence.
The best defense attorneys are extremely smart, they know the law, and probably won on the debate team. They are masters of smoke and mirrors, confusing details, and boring jurors to death with technical mumbo jumbo. This is why they can demand the big bucks.
Some people will disagree with me, but how can you believe that a defense attorney will do everything possible to get a sick, evil, suspect off a charge in an horrific murder case and still care about the victim?
To be clear, I completely believe in the American system of justice and that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. A good defense attorney will and should work to make sure that the client is given a fair trial. However, what we most often see, especially in a high profile case, is a battle of wits, not evidence, a game of gotcha, King of the Hill, Word Salad, and Pin the Tail on the Donkey, the donkey being the prosecution.

 

[Lyanna]

IMO there are people here and elsewhere that willfully ignore all the evidence which points clearly to one person responsible for eliminating Suzanne from this earth. These are the same people who push SODDI or Gone Girl and when challenged, aren’t able to come up with a logical, rational argument as to how either of those things can be true and also explains the mountain of evidence against BM. They continually and shamefully engage in victim blaming, some of whom are very skilled at passive aggressively doing so while at the same time feigning wanting Justice for Suzanne.
It’s easy to see through and I don’t know, can only guess, that some of these people are either family and friends of BM, attracted to BM (gag!), hate the government, or have a seething hatred for Suzanne because she had an affair and feel she deserved to die for doing so.

The only argument I’ve seen offered to explain how SODDI or Gone Girl is a possibility and also explain all the evidence against BM was that BM was known to run off after arguments with Suzanne. Sure he might have run off after arguments and I’ve personally known people that do that too to blow off steam or whatever, BUT it’s a very weak argument to make when considering the totality of all the other things that went down that fateful MDW and all that BM did that flies in the face of and makes no sense for someone just running off to blow off steam or whatever after an argument. I won’t go into all of his lies and what else he did that weekend that makes running off after an argument a weak argument as it has all been pointed out and discussed ad nauseum on these threads, except to say not least of which of his lies was the whopper he told before he was supposed to even know Suzanne was missing, which was saying he was at the wall with workers present when he got the call when digital evidence (which doesn’t lie) proves he was really at the hotel when he got the call.
There is zero reason to lie about ANYTHING when your wife turns up missing and we know BM lied and lied often in his hours of interviews with LE, but this particular lie he told about saying where he was when he got the call is a massive (proven) lie that should tell you all you need to know.

Having said all that, I know it won’t change anyone’s mind that’s blinded by their loyalty to BM (family, friends), or by their infatuation with BM, their hatred for the government or their hatred for Suzanne. There will always be these types of people that ignore the evidence and relentlessly blame the victim. I’ve seen it in countless cases, just like there will always be deluded women/men writing fan letters to convicted killers in prison, offering up marriage proposals, you name it. From Bundy to Manson, Peterson and Watts, the list goes on. They all had/have their deluded fans/followers, and BM is no different. If he’s convicted and goes to prison (where he belongs imo), I expect there will be a long line of fans writing him letters of support, love letters and offering up marriage proposals. Just wait for it because it will happen if he’s convicted, as history has proven over and over again. SMDH.

IMHOO

#FindSuzanne
#BringSuzanneHome
#JusticeForSuzanne

100% agree

 

[charminglane]

It isn’t voluntary.
I guarantee that the majority of people know and like, or even admire someone who they think is a great person but they are truly an abusive, manipulative narcissist. The ones who aren’t fooled are people who have survived being a target of a narcissist.

Thank you.

 

[Love Never Fails]

Not only does the penalty imposed far exceed the offense, the judge himself says he did not yet have access to the court transcript, so had to rely on his notes (which amazingly perfectly match the inaccuracies reflected in the defense's motion while perfectly contradicting the report of an independent journalist who attended the hearing).

So, the court cannot manage to produce transcripts on a reasonable schedule, but imposes severe penalties on the prosecution for missing the deadline by A DAY. WHO imposes the penalty on the court for relying on erroneous records of what occurred in the hearing? AND he says that this order will stand as a baseline for future decisions.

So, what are the reasonable inferences about how this judge is going to rule when the defense objects time and time again, as we know they will to testimony of the witnesses? The witnesses' testimony will come out in drips and drabs without coherence and with much disallowance of this or that. And in the end, the judge may summarize in complete contradiction to what the witness said, as he did with Spence.

I think it was you who was recommending the prosecution take this to a higher court for a ruling that this judge has effectively dismissed this case - through the words he has repeatedly used in reference to the prosecution and their case and through the use of defense assertions rather than witness testimony (i.e. EVIDENCE) to support his orders.

And the State can begin anew with the record on file that this judge repeatedly put his thumb on the scale in favor of the defense to permit a wife/mother murderer to go free. Investigators can continue to search for SM's discarded remains when circumstances permit and if, God help the side of goodness, they are successful in locating her remains and any evidence accompanying them, this judge can wallow in the pile of manure he has created.

CBI can fire Cahill rather than "move him to marijuana" (how does it make ANY sense to transfer rather than fire an agent who has lied to his superiors about the unpermitted equipment he installed on his service weapon after an accidental discharge which caused him injury, undermined a deliberate murder case such as he as done here - not to mention any other case he worked on, and effectively walked away to pursue other opportunities in the middle of an investigation and expected the world to stand around and wait until he bothered to return?...how does a transfer make him any more reliable or respectful of the pursuit of justice?...). The defense attorneys can buy whatever they buy from their profitable practice of representing well-heeled wife-murderers and look forward to future purchases when BM is arrested once again.

I love this post. If only…

 

[Love Never Fails]

IMO there are people here and elsewhere that willfully ignore all the evidence which points clearly to one person responsible for eliminating Suzanne from this earth. These are the same people who push SODDI or Gone Girl and when challenged, aren’t able to come up with a logical, rational argument as to how either of those things can be true and also explains the mountain of evidence against BM. They continually and shamefully engage in victim blaming, some of whom are very skilled at passive aggressively doing so while at the same time feigning wanting Justice for Suzanne.
It’s easy to see through and I don’t know, can only guess, that some of these people are either family and friends of BM, attracted to BM (gag!), hate the government, or have a seething hatred for Suzanne because she had an affair and feel she deserved to die for doing so.

The only argument I’ve seen offered to explain how SODDI or Gone Girl is a possibility and also explain all the evidence against BM was that BM was known to run off after arguments with Suzanne. Sure he might have run off after arguments and I’ve personally known people that do that too to blow off steam or whatever, BUT it’s a very weak argument to make when considering the totality of all the other things that went down that fateful MDW and all that BM did that flies in the face of and makes no sense for someone just running off to blow off steam or whatever after an argument. I won’t go into all of his lies and what else he did that weekend that makes running off after an argument a weak argument as it has all been pointed out and discussed ad nauseum on these threads, except to say not least of which of his lies was the whopper he told before he was supposed to even know Suzanne was missing, which was saying he was at the wall with workers present when he got the call when digital evidence (which doesn’t lie) proves he was really at the hotel when he got the call.
There is zero reason to lie about ANYTHING when your wife turns up missing and we know BM lied and lied often in his hours of interviews with LE, but this particular lie he told about saying where he was when he got the call is a massive (proven) lie that should tell you all you need to know.

Having said all that, I know it won’t change anyone’s mind that’s blinded by their loyalty to BM (family, friends), or by their infatuation with BM, their hatred for the government or their hatred for Suzanne. There will always be these types of people that ignore the evidence and relentlessly blame the victim. I’ve seen it in countless cases, just like there will always be deluded women/men writing fan letters to convicted killers in prison, offering up marriage proposals, you name it. From Bundy to Manson, Peterson and Watts, the list goes on. They all had/have their deluded fans/followers, and BM is no different. If he’s convicted and goes to prison (where he belongs imo), I expect there will be a long line of fans writing him letters of support, love letters and offering up marriage proposals. Just wait for it because it will happen if he’s convicted, as history has proven over and over again. SMDH.

IMHOO

#FindSuzanne
#BringSuzanneHome
#JusticeForSuzanne

Barry can get courted, married, have a new family in prison. I don’t really care much, as long as he is in the worst of prisons for the rest of his life. IMO, he should be thrown down a mineshaft.

 

[Love Never Fails]

It is easy to grow disheartened.

Let us remember -- this really isn't about justice for Suzanne. Her justice -- the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness -- was stolen on 5/9.

This is about justice for Barry IMO. It's about his right to life, liberty and justice, and I hope justice is allowed its course in court, resulting in a conviction, and LWOP, severely restricting his liberty, from here forward.

Let us remember that the defense is paid to work around the clock and they are being paid handsomely to do so.

The DA's office is subjected to all kinds of covid-related issues. We see that across the country. Staffing shortages, clerical backlogs.

The defense is pouncing on every thing they can. Because it's all they've got.

If you look at these discovery violations, there's nothing there IMO that impacts Barry's right to a fair trial. The RR is not, was not and will never be a crime scene. No sex offender from Illinois or Arizona or anywhere else was in Suzanne's car, and no one was in Suzanne's car on 5/10. Not Suzanne. Just Barry, when he removed her bike. Because she asked him to. While she was...dead.

The dog. That's been wholly debunked. He was searching for scent. It probably looked promising to the LE on site, to officers who were tricked into believing Suzanne went missing from that location.

Sounds like the dog did what it was trained to do. Searched for scent based on the item supplied. Dog never alerted. So much so it was simply a non-event.

The defense wants all of us to think that Barry is being tried because of these early "mistakes" -- the DNA, the dog -- but those are gross interpretations, at best -- and have a judge, who appears to be short-staffed and time-crunched himself, believing that a dog followed Suzanne's scent to a log and that three outstate criminals touched a couple of Suzanne's things (they did not) and are legitimate SODDIs (they are not).

IMO Barry's defense is abusing the system. Conflating technicalities. Mining memos for typos, having hissy fits over discovery delays over discovery they already have, massaging the judge with histrionics and false piety...

Which is what they're being paid to do. Obscure the truth and try like hell to get their client off on a weak technicality.

Because the facts in this case are devastating.

If 12 jurors believe that Suzanne died relative to the cessation of her digital presence and her miserable husband was the only person there at the time, and that his movements were rapid and directed, there's only one verdict to return.

The rest is just details.

JMO

<modsnip>

And I don’t make excuses for the prosecution not reaching their deadlines.

There is something very wrong with all of this and we are only days from trial.

<modsnip>

 

[Love Never Fails]

Or maybe the defense wants us (J.Q. Public) to think the Prosecution is bumbling -- and running scared.

It's all still bound over for trial.

The defense will wear out their voices objecting, of driving home mere lay opinions, but that's just court theatrics. The jurors won't know they could've, would've been experts. The defense will represent all kinds of puffery in their opening remarks, points they'll never address, in the hopes of swaying a juror to put Suzanne on trial, or to Furmanize LE, as if this was a half-assed arrest following a half-assed investigation, which they were not. The sheriff was beyond wise to call for back-up immediately. Barry was outgunned.

See, Barry thought he just had to convince Suzanne's daughters that Suzanne disappeared while he was away -- just Suzanne's daughters and the local yokum police. Oh, but did he mispredict! Sheriff is smart. The dog never picked up Suzanne's scent but the sheriff did. His deputies smelled a rat.

It is wrong IMO for the court not to consider that Suzanne is still missing to be evidence pointing directly at Barry, who had the skillset and mindset to disappear a body. A mountain lion isn't tidy. An abductor doesn't stage a bike, burn a journal, take time to toss a helmet. Gone girl could come back now. Only a hunter and a predator and an earth-mover/hardscaper/land-surveyor (he knows mines), whose wife wanted out of a sick marriage, would have both reason and ability to conceal the murder...

He shouldn't get special consideration for that! No, it should add boulder-weight to the case against him.

Someone upthread summarized it best -- Suzanne died of domestic homicidal violence, the culmination of a pattern of subtle, erosive domestic violence.

We need to call it what it is.

JMO

You are ignoring the fact that the judge in this case is not allowing DV testimony. And the fact that the prosecution has had these mis-steps have in fact bungled the case. You can root for them to pull the rabbit out of a hat. I prefer to have a do over by an agreement of a higher court.

 

[Love Never Fails]

I totally agree, @Love Never Fails. I don’t think a lot of people understand that defense attorneys do not care whether their client is guilty or innocent. It is all a game; a game of one upmanship. Their sole job is to get the client off. The victim is not taken into consideration. The defense attorney may look at the evidence against his/her client and may recommend that the client take a plea. This is not because the defense attorney wants justice for the victim, but because they don’t think they can win against the evidence.
The best defense attorneys are extremely smart, they know the law, and probably won on the debate team. They are masters of smoke and mirrors, confusing details, and boring jurors to death with technical mumbo jumbo. This is why they can demand the big bucks.
Some people will disagree with me, but how can you believe that a defense attorney will do everything possible to get a sick, evil, suspect off a charge in an horrific murder case and still care about the victim?
To be clear, I completely believe in the American system of justice and that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. A good defense attorney will and should work to make sure that the client is given a fair trial. However, what we most often see, especially in a high profile case, is a battle of wits, not evidence, a game of gotcha, King of the Hill, Word Salad, and Pin the Tail on the Donkey, the donkey being the prosecution.

@Old Cop, you said that perfectly. Anytime s person tries to state the truth about a well known, high priced defense attorney, you get hammered by the usual “that’s our criminal justice system and it’s the best in the world”. That’s a lie, in my opinion. But most people buy into it. If someone wants to get rich as a lawyer, playing games of competition while dead bodies pile up, all in the name of defending their client, that’s up to them. But I don’t want to hear someone defending a murderer and talk about their right to a fair trial. Barry Morphew is not an innocent man being railroaded. He is a murderer. Period.

 

[Skigh]

I am just beyond angry with the unfairness of this. I can understand the defence need to do what they can to earn their money and defend their client. But the judge should be there to make sure there is a fair trial on both sides and to make sure he has read and understood every word of everything that has been recorded since Suzanne was reported missing.

 

[Momofthreeboys]

<modsnip>

Totally agree. This judge could well allow the prosecution to present its entire case - hobbled by his sanctions - and then declare a dismissal. At that point, a jury will have been seated, heard the entire case, denied the opportunity to serve as the jurists they were seated to serve as, and there would be no retrial. It would not be the first time a judge stepped in and denied the jury the chance to deliberate and make its own findings.

I don’t think that will happen. You are right that it could happen but I don’t think it will.

 

[Megnut]

You are ignoring the fact that the judge in this case is not allowing DV testimony. And the fact that the prosecution has had these mis-steps have in fact bungled the case. You can root for them to pull the rabbit out of a hat. I prefer to have a do over by an agreement of a higher court.

I am not ignoring. I'm as outraged as you are. The system is re-victimizing the victim. This really is no different than restraining orders which are largely unenforced/unenforceable, rendering women at even greater vulnerabilty. And that DV is so minimized, and in cases without bruises, it's dismissed all together. How often do we hear "our hands are tied until..." until something awful happens.

And here we are. It's happened. Those of us who've seen this movie before, or lived parts of it firsthand, recognize the signs, the patterns. The control, the scare tactics, the public image, the hidden bruises and cracked door frames --

And in Colorado, DV is not a chargeable offense in its own right. Only an enhancement. That this defendant is charged with, alongside Murder 1. But the judge is restricting testimony on DV... IT BLOWS THE MIND.

Suzanne is the poster child. It does happen. In wealthy families too. In families that "have it all." In families that take gogreous vacations, live in trendy homes, have money, have degrees, are well-connected. Even to wives who pen lavish St. Valentine's Day cards to their abusers. It's a complex dynamic.

Suzanne was not free to leave. And like countless women just like her, she didn't think she needed safe passage. She didn't know her life was at stake, just her freedom. And when she realized her life was at stake, it was too late, and her grip too weak. She signed her testimony with her fingernails.

If Barry is acquitted, no woman is safe.

JMO

 

[Skigh]

If Barry is acquitted I hope there will be a world wide outrage and campaign for women's lives matter.

 

[Boxer]

So far I see a lot of unforced errors on the part of the DA.

Blowing off a major deadline can be seen as a direct challenge to the authority of the court.