Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, Chaffee Co, 10 May 2020 *Case dismissed w/o prejudice* #106

[MountainDad]

IMO
Barry's civil suit would very effective if they introduced new evidence of sign of life from Suzanne, new evidence or theory of SODDI, or an alternative theory of Suzanne's disappearance that fits the evidence presented so far through the PH. It does not present new evidence or theory on her disappearance .

I see many people on various sites declaring Barry's innocence because of the DNA non match that was found in Suzannes glove box- which I believe was orchestrated between Cahill and IE. It worked really well with news agencies and in the court of public opinion. IMO Barry and his daughters civil suit is a PR campaign to sway public opinion.

 

[Momofthreeboys]

IMO
Barry's civil suit would very effective if they introduced new evidence of sign of life from Suzanne, new evidence or theory of SODDI, or an alternative theory of Suzanne's disappearance that fits the evidence presented so far through the PH. It does not present new evidence or theory on her disappearance .

I see many people on various sites declaring Barry's innocence because of the DNA non match that was found in Suzannes glove box- which I believe was orchestrated between Cahill and IE. It worked really well with news agencies and in the court of public opinion. IMO Barry and his daughters civil suit is a PR campaign to sway public opinion.

People focus on the glovebox DNA, but the points brought up in the civil suit also cover all the unknown DNA in the bedroom, bike, helmet, back seat of Suzanne's car. as well as the glovebox .. and when they received the information from prosecution... could be anybody's DNA in all those locations, but I think the civil lawyers have a different argument than whose DNA was on the glovebox.

 

[Hoss569]

I would love to know how her criminal defense practice is really going. She had this one high profile, rich client (Barry) who sold his house to pay her (and her partner). Now she's basically on her own and probably very very money hungry.

This bizarre lawsuit would net her about $5M if successful. I think that most of it will be thrown out of court. But the facts of this civil suit would have to include what's known on the criminal side (to determine whether all these defendants actually lied or were negligent or whatever she is claiming).

Truly appreciating all the discussion here. This case haunts me.

IMO.

I it bizarre, but why now? Pretty close to the anniversy of her disapearance ... Very soon after S or whatever her name is that moved out ... Tire of watching his back wherever he goes ... The snow is melting pretty quick also ... Money ?????

 

[MountainDad]

People focus on the glovebox DNA, but the points brought up in the civil suit also cover all the unknown DNA in the bedroom, bike, helmet, back seat of Suzanne's car. as well as the glovebox .. and when they received the information from prosecution... could be anybody's DNA in all those locations, but I think the civil lawyers have a different argument than whose DNA was on the glovebox.

Yes. Agreed. The civil suit brings up partial non matching unrelated DNA of unknown people found in the bedroom, bike, helmet, and Suzanne's car. These partial DNA markers do not match any specific person and are not linked or associated with any other crimes. IMO partial DNA is everywhere, and even more noticeable and discoverable if a defense lawyer calls you (Cahill) the night before your testimony in the PH.

 

[justtrish]

I thought Suzanne was doing over 90 truck events with his truck in the wee hours of 5/10/2020 while Barry was sleeping.

Oh yes that too! Suzanne was the busiest wife ever plotting her disappearance and framing of Barry.

I sincerely hope his greed will trip him up.

What kind of a fool deliberately puts their (to me) obvious crime back in the spotlight again?

JMO, of course.

Well the same one that talks to LE without a lawyer as many times as he did. He thinks he is a smooth talker and can talk his way out of this mess. He is the victim of course (in his mind only) and everyone needs to know about how awful he was treated.

In all this I am still wondering when anyone is going to care about Suzanne, the true victim of all this. She has never been the focus for Barry.

 

[CGray123]

I still think both the civil lawyers and IE took this on contingency to be paid at the end if they win and the jury favors them but we will probably never know.

Criminal cases are never taken on contingency. There is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, from which to collect. I have no doubt that the E&N firm made an estimate of likely fees and costs for a full throated defense, and took enough as a retainer to cover everything through the PH/bond hearing. They may have asked for another advance after the January '22 hearing.

However, BM seems like the kind of guy who sees this as a business transaction, and who, having sold himself on the idea that he could more than recover his costs in the civil suit, would have negotiated away IE's final bill for a share of the civil proceeds. "I can't get work and I gotta live, you know." This would have provided IE with a financial incentive (if she needed one) to continue the PR campaign to "clear BM's name" in the public eye without costing BM a cent.

From the time I learned that Dre Nielsen joined another firm, I have speculated that IE's passion for this case (maybe BM, too) and her developing obsession with punishing ""bad" prosecutors led to DN's move. I don't see a total professional and exceptional lawyer like DN - married to another great defense lawyer and with a kid on the way - thought she wouldn't safely weather the storms she saw, looking ahead. I wonder what the terms of the breakup were. Clearly IE still loves her - she's still on the website.

Sometimes I wonder where IE's passion to protect bad boys comes from, and whether she's entirely rational - especially in her relationship with BM. But then, the civil attorneys seem pretty savvy, so maybe they will serve as the voice of reason on BM's side. We'll see.

 

[MassGuy]

With the advances in DNA science, specifically touch DNA, I’m honestly a bit surprised they didn’t find more unknown DNA in this one.

This lawsuit is such a joke.

 

[Momofthreeboys]

Criminal cases are never taken on contingency. There is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, from which to collect. I have no doubt that the E&N firm made an estimate of likely fees and costs for a full throated defense, and took enough as a retainer to cover everything through the PH/bond hearing. They may have asked for another advance after the January '22 hearing.

However, BM seems like the kind of guy who sees this as a business transaction, and who, having sold himself on the idea that he could more than recover his costs in the civil suit, would have negotiated away IE's final bill for a share of the civil proceeds. "I can't get work and I gotta live, you know." This would have provided IE with a financial incentive (if she needed one) to continue the PR campaign to "clear BM's name" in the public eye without costing BM a cent.

From the time I learned that Dre Nielsen joined another firm, I have speculated that IE's passion for this case (maybe BM, too) and her developing obsession with punishing ""bad" prosecutors led to DN's move. I don't see a total professional and exceptional lawyer like DN - married to another great defense lawyer and with a kid on the way - thought she wouldn't safely weather the storms she saw, looking ahead. I wonder what the terms of the breakup were. Clearly IE still loves her - she's still on the website.

Sometimes I wonder where IE's passion to protect bad boys comes from, and whether she's entirely rational - especially in her relationship with BM. But then, the civil attorneys seem pretty savvy, so maybe they will serve as the voice of reason on BM's side. We'll see.

I was speaking that the civil trial might be contingency or something other than traditional hourly. I agree about Dru. She is probably at the age where she just wants to settle into a career with less drama. I imagine high strung IE could exhaust a person. Although if I recall Dru was there in at least one of the early court appearances with Barry.

 

[Momofthreeboys]

For those that don’t want to read 185 pages this article outlines the 13 claims in bullet form. Barry Morphew files $15 million civil suit against prosecutors, Chaffee County, law enforcement | KRDO

 

[CGray123]

I was speaking that the civil trial might be contingency or something other than traditional hourly. I agree about Dru. She is probably at the age where she just wants to settle into a career with less drama. I imagine high strung IE could exhaust a person. Although if I recall Dru was there in at least one of the early court appearances with Barry.

If they took it on pure contingency they aren't as smart as they look. This could be - what? The Mother of All Battles (Um al-Mar'rik) In the legal sense. They could lose their shirts if they don't get a settlement.

 

[CGray123]

Yes. Agreed. The civil suit brings up partial non matching unrelated DNA of unknown people found in the bedroom, bike, helmet, and Suzanne's car. These partial DNA markers do not match any specific person and are not linked or associated with any other crimes. IMO partial DNA is everywhere, and even more noticeable and discoverable if a defense lawyer calls you (Cahill) the night before your testimony in the PH.

Exactly. This is why it is so important to defend this lawsuit. If BM has his way, no one could be prosecuted because touch DNA is everywhere. Even though the mosaic of other evidence shows a compelling picture of who murdered SM. MOO.

 

[Luna20]

Criminal cases are never taken on contingency. There is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, from which to collect. I have no doubt that the E&N firm made an estimate of likely fees and costs for a full throated defense, and took enough as a retainer to cover everything through the PH/bond hearing. They may have asked for another advance after the January '22 hearing.

However, BM seems like the kind of guy who sees this as a business transaction, and who, having sold himself on the idea that he could more than recover his costs in the civil suit, would have negotiated away IE's final bill for a share of the civil proceeds. "I can't get work and I gotta live, you know." This would have provided IE with a financial incentive (if she needed one) to continue the PR campaign to "clear BM's name" in the public eye without costing BM a cent.

From the time I learned that Dre Nielsen joined another firm, I have speculated that IE's passion for this case (maybe BM, too) and her developing obsession with punishing ""bad" prosecutors led to DN's move. I don't see a total professional and exceptional lawyer like DN - married to another great defense lawyer and with a kid on the way - thought she wouldn't safely weather the storms she saw, looking ahead. I wonder what the terms of the breakup were. Clearly IE still loves her - she's still on the website.

Sometimes I wonder where IE's passion to protect bad boys comes from, and whether she's entirely rational - especially in her relationship with BM. But then, the civil attorneys seem pretty savvy, so maybe they will serve as the voice of reason on BM's side. We'll see.

Who is IE?

 

[kittythehare]

For those that don’t want to read 185 pages this article outlines the 13 claims in bullet form. Barry Morphew files $15 million civil suit against prosecutors, Chaffee County, law enforcement | KRDO

will the mountain lion testify for bM, I wonder.
Link for pic

https://twitter.com/x/status/1654239035663998976

 

[CGray123]

Who is IE?

Iris Eytan, lead defense counsel for Barry Morphew, defending murder charges. Also, co-counsel in the civil case he filed against the investigators and attorneys (and the agencies who employed them) who pursued charges against him for murder.

 

[Luna20]

Iris Eytan, lead defense counsel for Barry Morphew, defending murder charges. Also, co-counsel in the civil case he filed against the investigators and attorneys (and the agencies who employed them) who pursued charges against him for murder.

Oh got it. Thanks!

 

[CGray123]

For those that don’t want to read 185 pages this article outlines the 13 claims in bullet form. Barry Morphew files $15 million civil suit against prosecutors, Chaffee County, law enforcement | KRDO

Most of the listed charges aren't legal claims. The daughters' charges aren't viable either. The legal question will be, were BM's constitutional rights violated during the investigation and criminal proceedings.

 

[Seattle1]

Barry Morphew files $15 million civil suit against prosecutors, Chaffee County, law enforcement

Barry Morphew files $15 million civil suit against prosecutors, Chaffee County, law enforcement

krdo.com

5/2/2023

[..]

Loew said it is "not common" for people accused of crimes to sue the prosectors and law enforcement involved in charging them. He says it takes someone with resources to hire multiple law firms to file a lawsuit of this length.

"Mr. Morphew has three law firms working on this case, and it could be in excess of $500 an hour, if not more. He's probably fronting the bill himself to send a message," Loew said.

Loew says filing this lawsuit does not come without any risk to Morphew or the accusations thrown at him in a case that has been dismissed without prejudice, meaning DA Linda Stanley can re-file the case if more evidence surfaces. He says Morphew may have to be questioned by attorney's who are representing all of the defendants in the lawsuit.

"Mr. Morphew has had the right to remain silent throughout this entire process. However, when he brings a lawsuit, he's giving up that right to remain silent and can absolutely be deposed of," Loew said. If he's deposed and answers questions it could lead to more charges being filed going forward."

Loew says it's entirely possible that each defendant hires a different attorney, and if Barry Morphew has to go through multiple different depositions, his story will have to stay the same through all of them.

"If they named 50 people, that's 50 depositions that his story has to remain consistent, accurate and foolproof," Loew said.

Morphew's lawyers say that Barry Morphew and his daughters continue to urge authorities to find Suzanne Morphew, who has been missing for nearly three years.

[..]

 

[mrjitty]

I think Barry has to plead the 5th in any civil deposition

Otherwise he will be deposed on all the lies in his statements and that stuff can be introduced as evidence in a criminal trial.

Eg why did he continuously lie about the Hike? What about the alarm story? Depositions or even worse, cross at civil trial would be a disaster for any future criminal trial.

 

[mrjitty]

The tactical issue is that IEs civil case says that BM was pressured into lying in his statements to Law Enforcement due to unconstitutional deception and fabrication. So he would have to testify to that at the civil trial. Unlike the criminal case, he cannot avoid being called as a witness.

So re the left turn, he will have to say that there was no left turn and he made all that up - really he went to the spa shop - an entirely new version not supported by the truck telematics, nor by his statements, including long before he was the primary suspect. In fact, he said he went hiking!

Now multiply this by every issue. e.g the chipmunks, the dumping, the missing tranqs etc etc

Obviously such depositions and testimony would be disastrous for a criminal trial where BM probably would not have taken the stand.

BM could instead plead the 5th, which cannot be used against him in the criminal case, but can be used against him in the civil case.

The prosecutors should be salivating at this opportunity

 

[mrjitty]

Exactly. This is why it is so important to defend this lawsuit. If BM has his way, no one could be prosecuted because touch DNA is everywhere. Even though the mosaic of other evidence shows a compelling picture of who murdered SM. MOO.

Agreed.

Especially also re the Grusing interrogation. This is a case of huge practical import.

e.g if law enforcement is not allowed to confront the accused with circumstantial evidence pre-trial (e.g. digital) which is subject to expert disagreement where are we at?