Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, Chaffee Co, 10 May 2020 *Case dismissed w/o prejudice* *found in 2023* #110

[SleuthBee]

I wonder if police have ever went back and searched the road from the helmet up to the "turn around spot" and back. Maybe with metal detectors. I know likely no manpower for that, but I sure do think he deposited at least one other item along that route.

I think Barry knew enough to make sure the phone went into water. Maybe her sunglasses were tossed as well. Barry overestimated himself by thinking others were stupid enough to believe an abducter left a breadcrumb trail pointed in their direction.

 

[FromGermany1]

I am picturing this.

In fact, I can never unsee it.

My retinas hate me.

Morphew Murder Case Dismissed

(Cañon City)—In a move that stunned courtroom observers and the defendant himself, 11th Judicial District Attorney Linda Stanley filed a motion to dismiss all charges against 54 year old Barry

www.themountainmail.com

Barry Morphew attorneys go after prosecutors a year after case is thrown out - Denver Gazette

Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Suzanne Morphew is still missing and the case appears to be stalled, but it still haunts attorneys on both sides. Nearly a year to the day since the case into the 49-year-old Maysville mother’s disappearance was dismissed, her...

denvergazette.com

Barry Morphew is a free man; upcoming trial dismissed by prosecution

CAÑON CITY • After months of uncertainty, including a change of venue, musical chairs with two judges, and the dismissal of 14 of 16 expert witnesses, the question of what

gazette.com

Anyone, who hugs his lawyer so warmly and emotionally, cannot be a bad person (who murders). When will we all finally understand it?

 

[FromGermany1]

Last SM phone ping 4:23 am Sunday 5/10 approximately 11.5 miles west of the Poncha Springs tower, visible on Google Maps at the storage area behind Salida Spa and Stove.
The Morphew's house is 8.5 miles west of the PS cell tower, so her last ping was about two or three miles further west up hwy 50 toward Monarch.

Discovery of Suzanne Morphew’s body raises new legal questions in 3-year-old case

Who should be charged, which prosecutor’s office should pursue the case and whether that initial attempt at a prosecution might hobble a second try are all up for debate, experts said.

www.denverpost.com

The elk viewing tour?

 

[SleuthBee]

GRAPHIC WARNING>

Does IE ever take female clients or does she only want men who murder their female partners?

 

[FromGermany1]

dbm, because I'm reading backwards (from newest to older posts) and just noticed something to my theme.

 

[FromGermany1]

Does IE ever take female clients or does she only want men who murder their female partners?

She may be completely occupied with murdering husbands/male partners as her clients.

 

[mrjitty]

Yes, the Spa supply store. These are from day 3 of the 4 day preliminary hearing. I can’t find the exact one where Grusing said on the stand that the store owners/employees were wrong about the time they and BM say he was there.

View attachment 452304View attachment 452305View attachment 452306View attachment 452307

Thanks for this

I am confused as to how they contended this accounted for the missing mileage - I guess just another misdirection. I need to check if they also made this argument in the civil case

 

[Boxer]

The elk viewing tour?

Yes.
The measurements are mine using Google Earth. So MOO.
House 8.5 west of Poncha SprIngs Tower. Ping 11.5 west.

 

[mrjitty]

I am attempting to illustrate that the problems that caused the withdrawal must be fixed so this does not happen again.

Snipped for focus.

I am somewhat confused by what your argument is

Any new charges are de novo. The trial process starts from scratch. There are no Brady or discovery violations unless the prosecution were so disorganised as to commit new ones, but it seems doubtful they'd make the same mistake again. Indeed in the motions that followed sanctions e.g. for return of properly, the prosecution brought their A game.

A different question is an argument about whether the sanctions should be re-applied to the new case. This seems unlikely to me given the Judge's dismissal ruling finding good faith, and the prosecution since found the body. However I am fairly confident whatever is decided on that issue will be appealed.

One practical point here - the lion's share of discovery has already been given to IE in this case. No doubt expert reports might be refreshed somewhat, and we don't know what the grave forensics will be.

But as I have said before, this is one aspect I am not losing sleep over. IE played her procedural game - but she isn't easily going to be able to repeat the same tricks

 

[Hilt]

Last SM phone ping 4:23 am Sunday 5/10 approximately 11.5 miles west of the Poncha Springs tower, visible on Google Maps at the storage area behind Salida Spa and Stove.
The Morphew's house is 8.5 miles west of the PS cell tower, so her last ping was about two or three miles further west up hwy 50 toward Monarch.

Discovery of Suzanne Morphew’s body raises new legal questions in 3-year-old case

Who should be charged, which prosecutor’s office should pursue the case and whether that initial attempt at a prosecution might hobble a second try are all up for debate, experts said.

www.denverpost.com

This point was raised in Post #649, because it would put the last ping of Suzanne's phone at the same place as Mr. Morphew admitted to being in the pre-dawn hours of May 10 (page 74 of Arrest Affidavit). MassGuy, who is quite knowledgeable regarding this case, pointed out that the ping location was apparently not correct (see posts #651 and 717). Still, it's confounding to me that where LE identified the last ping of Suzanne's phone in the Arrest Affidavit was exactly the point where Mr. Morphew turned around after his Elk siting excursion (the County Rd. 283 turnoff in Garfield).

In Post #772 I asked if there published records from the Preliminary Hearing that explain why the location of the last ping on Suzanne’s phone is unreliable (i.e., wasn’t 11.5 miles west of the Poncha Tower), but so far, crickets.

The reporter, Lauren Scharff, mentions Suzanne's last phone ping in a tweet dated August 9, 2021 as part of the preliminary hearing coverage but i couldn't find any mention of rebuttal by Mr. Morphew's counsel. Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[mrjitty]

I am getting you now. To put it in my language, whatever DNA was collected must be disclosed. Then each side hires its experts. What the State needs is a true DNA expert who can demolish the Glove Box DNA. What the Defense needs is at least one juror who has trouble paying attention to scientific explanations.

RSBM. I realise you probably know this, but for others, the state obviously did have a DNA expert IIRC

The point is in the prelim, expert evidence/reports are frequently sock puppeted in by investigating officers. So I think Grusing brought in the telematics and ceilular reports for example.

In the actual trial, only the people who wrote the reports can testify to them. But in the prelim, as it is a fast track process, you don't get into the expert detail.

So the fact that Cahill botched his testimony would not have mattered at trial. He would have simply testified to the investigative steps he took. he wouldn't be explaining what results meant beyond basic template answers.

He was more problematic in that his poor testimony opened the door to IE's conspiracy theories pre-trial. I think it is also fair to say he didn't do his pre-arrest work properly, but this is likely because there was nothing to investigate here.

 

[Seattle1]

Following the preliminary hearing and BM being released on bond in September 2021, the defense requested a motions hearing on Nov 9, 2021, seeking discovery violation sanctions pursuant to its Motion dated June 24, 2021/renewed Aug 2, 2021.

IMO, was no accident the request for the old defense Motion hearing was delayed until the release of BM's Oct 19, 2021, Notice of Intent to sue the prosecution team and investigators for violating BM's Civil Rights (alleging the defendants withheld exculpatory evidence).

The four-hour hearing concluded with the Court requesting the defense file new Motions to include what exactly the defense is asking for and what exactly they allege they are missing. In other words, the Court had been down this road before with the defense, only to learn after much pontification by IE that the discovery was not missing but the defense lacked the correct software version to access the evidence.

The defense, however, never did comply with the Court's request to file new, specific, Motions but instead waited for a new Judge on January 24, 2022, to pick up on where the Nov 9, 2021, hearing left off.

IMO, the most insulting of the allegations by IE before Lama on January 24, 2022, was stating the defense had only received 5% of discovery for the case! Yes, this was just the beginning of this Court miserably falling for the conspiracies and misrepresentations of the defense. MOO

In a Motions hearing subsequent to the PH and release of BM on bail, where witnesses were to be called to support the defense DNA allegations, I don't think it was any mistake that IE ran out the clock during the hearing but not before Judge Murphy repeatedly questioned IE why they were there or the purpose of the witnesses!

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

We’re in Salida today for a #BarryMorphew hearing at 1:30. I’ll update this thread.
@KKTV11News
12:08 PM · Nov 9, 2021·

#BarryMorphew is in the courtroom. Both of his daughters are here with him as well. Iris Eytan is here, Dru Nielsen is not that I see of. She called in during the last hearing. Prosecutors are in the room as well. Sounds like witnesses will be called today.
@KKTV11News
12:31 PM · Nov 9, 2021·

Judge [Murphy] starts off with the issue of the subpoena for Jeff Lindsey. He was the former lead prosecutor on the case who resigned last month. Lindsey is here virtually today it sounds like.
@KKTV11News
#BarryMorphew #SuzanneMorphew
12:44 PM · Nov 9, 2021

Judge says he's not sure why Jeff Lindsey was called here today. He says he's in the dark about a lot of things regarding the motion the defense filed. Eytan says they have not been getting exculpatory evidence from the DA's side, which is why she asked them to be there.
12:48 PM · Nov 9, 2021·

Eytan says she is worried that discovery, in this case, might have been destroyed. She says she called them here to hopefully tell them what discovery they have that the defense team needs to know about. #BarryMorphew #SuzanneMorphew
@KKTV11News
12:54 PM · Nov 9, 2021

Prosecutors say they found out yesterday that these emails in question were going to be a problem. Many changes on the prosecutor's side here. One member has been on the case for about 2 weeks, the other about 2 months. No sign of DA Linda Stanley here.
@KKTV11News
#BarryMorphew
12:56 PM · Nov 9, 2021

The judge says this motion in question is three months old and that it's a bit confusing as to why it's being brought up now. Eytan says they believed the prosecution was giving them everything they needed.
@KKTV11News
#BarryMorphew #SuzanneMorphew
1:00 PM · Nov 9, 2021

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Caitlin Rogers with CBI is now on stand. She is a DNA analyst for the bureau. She has been the primary analyst on the case for biological sciences. She has authored 9 reports in the case.
@KKTV11News
#BarryMorphew #SuzanneMorphew
2:46 PM · Nov 9, 2021

Rogers is discussing reports she authored and when they went out to people in CBI as they were working to identify DNA.
@KKTV11News
#BarryMorphew #SuzanneMorphew
2:58 PM · Nov 9, 2021

Rogers says she tested DNA found in #SuzanneMorphew car and listed it as "foreign" and that she believed the car to be connected to the incident and left from the perpetrator of the crime.
@KKTV11News
#BarryMorphew
3:04 PM · Nov 9, 2021·

Judge Murphy says he's a bit lost in what the argument is that defense attorneys are trying to get across here. Prosecutors say they're not sure why they're here for this hearing. Defense says they're trying to prove there was withholding of exculpatory evidence.
@KKTV11News
3:25 PM · Nov 9, 2021

Judge says the prosecution didn't really present much evidence during the preliminary hearing to show what the DNA match meant which he says helped him decide that there wasn't enough evidence to continue to keep #BarryMorphew without bond.
@KKTV11News
3:27 PM · Nov 9, 2021

Iris Eytan trying to explain why there are witnesses here to testify about meetings between prosecutors and CBI that defense attorneys were not made aware of. She says Agent Cahill with CBI lied about his knowledge of the DNA evidence in the case.
@KKTV11News
#BarryMorpehw
3:29 PM · Nov 9, 2021·

Eytan says information about an alternate suspect in the case was hidden from them. Prosecutors say this is going down a road leading to nowhere. He now says that maybe defense has it because there's so much evidence. Iris fires back with a hard "no" #BarryMorphew
@KKTV11News
3:32 PM · Nov 9, 2021

Agent Cahill is back- he testified at the preliminary hearing in August. Agent Cahill is asked if he was instructed to preserve emails and phone calls in this case. He says yes, he was provided the order. Eytan asks if he gave any of his emails and texts to her. He says no.
3:36 PM · Nov 9, 2021


Agent Cahill says after getting the motion from the defense to preserve emails and texts he began to preserve them, BUT emails to CBI are deleted after 90 days so some of the email conversations did not get saved.
@KKTV11News
#BarryMorphew #SuzanneMorphew
3:39 PM · Nov 9, 2021·


Judge says "I'd like to have something productive come out of this hearing." He says we will have to continue this hearing for some other time. He is asking Eytan to focus her questioning on a specific thing because court closes in 15.
@KKTV11News
#BarryMorphew #SuzanneMorphew
3:45 PM · Nov 9, 2021·

Judge says "I think I need to shut this down." He says it is no one's fault but some of the motions filed were old and a bit broad. New motions that should be filed should include what exactly the Defense is asking for and what exactly they are missing.
@KKTV11News
3:51 PM · Nov 9, 2021

Judge is working to reschedule this hearing. He is asking for a specific list of missing items defense does not have. Judge orders both sides to meet to get clarification on the issues that need to be addressed so we do not waste time.
@KKTV11News
#BarryMorphew #SuzanneMorphew

3:55 PM · Nov 9, 2021·

Judge says he wanted to get to the topic of pre-trial publicity but we did not. Defense filed this and says DA office "crossed the line" when it comes to the gag order. DA office had done several interviews with podcasts and news outlets. KKTV was not one of them.
@KKTV11News

3:58 PM · Nov 9, 2021·

The order states that neither side is allowed to talk about certain things in the case to media outlets while the case is ongoing.
@KKTV11News
#BarryMorphew #SuzanneMorphew

3:59 PM · Nov 9, 2021·
_________________________________________________________

And the rest is history: IE continued the defense Motion hearing for sanctions in the house of Lama-- where, unfortunately, the Court could not hear beyond IE's misrepresented DNA evidence. MOO* (all linked* late in the prior thread).

The defense introduced themselves to Judge Lama on January 24, 2022, for the continuation of the defense Motion citing discovery violations.

While the June 24, 2021/renewed Aug 2, 2021 defense Motion alleging discovery violations was not reissued for specificity as previously requested, it did not stop Lama from ruling on the allegations after also omitting and/or ignoring what had previously been ruled on and/or called out in the prior Court as defense misrepresentations! For example, the defense alleging nonreceipt of discovery instead of not being able to access the discovery, or simply not liking the format.

In another example, the defense further alleged missing emails and messages that were previously addressed by the People's Response, and subsequent Order, for the preservation of evidence. The prosecution objected to preserving all emails and communications between law enforcement officers (including prosecutors) connected to and pertaining to this case. The People advised they were aware of the obligations under Rule 16, and if any email or text contained Rule 16 material, it would be preserved and provided in discovery.

Here, the prior Court agreed that the defense request was not based on Rule 16, was too broad, ignored the effect of any search warrants issued, and was onerous and burdensome. The Court granted only obligations under Rule 16 to be preserved and provided in discovery.
It's especially sweet how in the laundry list of allegations against the State for being denied exculpatory evidence, the defense fails to ever mention to the Court their communication with Joseph Cahill on the eve of the preliminary hearing, or ever acknowledge the CODIS DNA Match letter of May 2021 from CBI's CODIS Unit.

In the Court Order to limit pretrial publicity, the Court acknowledged there had already been much publicity and it was likely to continue through trial. But more importantly, the Court issued the Order by specifically including it was not suggesting that there had been any violation of general, ethical principles but was citing the sections of Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct to provide the basis for the Order.

Unfortunately, for LS especially, the Court never got to hear the allegations calling for Contempt Citations of the entire prosecution team during the Nov 9, hearing. And when the Court made a comment in open court about how any violation of the pretrial publicity Order at this date would be akin to shooting oneself in the foot, the defense later misrepresented this comment to Judge Lama as being directly attached to DA LS! ^^This when the Court never even got to hear the Motion!

As evidenced in the Tweets below, Lama goes on to make decisions on the face of the defense arguments, ignoring the prior Order excluding non Rule 16 material. Lama also went on to make a decision LS violated the Order without considering the content of the People's response because he did not like the name of the media: "Profiling Evil." Personally, I watched the subject episode after the Order was issued and disagreed any statements by LS violated the professional rules cited in the Order. MOO

JAN 24, 2022: Live Tweets from Chaffe County, Colorado MST (Tweets are posted in PST):

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

We’re in Salida ahead of a a hearing for #BarryMorphew I’ll be in the courtroom and will update on this thread
@KKTV11News
6:55 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Judge is going through introductions as this is the first time sides have met the new judge [Lama] appointed to the case. #BarryMorphew
7:04 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Sounds like we will be going through a number of motions today including discovery and a motion to squash. Judge Lama is working on some technical issues now but we should hit the ground running shortly.
@KKTV11News
#BarryMorphew #SuzanneMorphew
7:07 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

*motion to quash* It's a bit early for my brain today
7:08 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

AG office says #BarryMorphew has been deprived of getting the information of the discovery he had a right to before the preliminary hearing. Continues to say the defense has a right to all of this information.
@KKTV11News
7:26 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

*** CORRECTION: this is an attorney representing the defense team (yikes it's been a rough one so far. I promise to do better)
7:30 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Back on track now: Attorney for defense is now reading off a list of information from the discovery they have asked for but HAVE NOT gotten.
@KKTV11News
#BarryMorphew #SuzanneMorphew
7:31 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

She says they have received 5% of this material 7 1/2 months after the deadline all of this information was due to the defense.
@KKTV11News
#BarryMorphew #SuzanneMorphew
7:33 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Agent Cahill (remember him) he resigned from CBI in December because of an accidental discharge of his weapon at his home. An IA report was done and CBI told the defense during their investigation that agent Cahill was not truthful during his testimony.
@KKTV11News
7:39 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Attorney says Cahill was an integral part of this case, a lead on the case if you will. After he testified at the prelim about DNA he was removed from the #BarryMorphew case.
@KKTV11News
7:41 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Defense attorney is saying that the LEAD investigator on the case was untruthful during his testimony on several different investigations. It sounds like defense also has not seen the IA investigation into Agent Cahill.
@KKTV11News
7:42 AM · Jan 24, 2022·

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Defense says that investigators wrote up an arrest affidavit very early on in the investigation which they say shows they wanted to pin it on the husband from the beginning without looking into the unknown DNA found in #SuzanneMorphew car.
@KKTV11News
7:46 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Prosecutors step up. They say they had no idea what the defense did and did not have. They say they had to supply defense attorneys with several copies of discovery. He says they have a small team trying to deal with thousands of pages.
@KKTV11News
#BarryMorphew
7:48 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Prosecutors say they're working on getting more information to the defense including emails they asked for from CBI agents to the DA office.
@KKTV11News
#BarryMorphew
7:50 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Prosecution says the defense thinks they get a checklist of everything that law enforcement officials have done and everything that has happened in the investigation on the side of CCSO and CBI. Prosecution says that's not appropriate.
@KKTV11News
#BarryMorphew
7:54 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Prosecution says attorney for defense thinks he is sitting on information and hiding it. He says that is not the case and the defense has everything that he has. They feel the defense is trying to go around an order made by previous judge on the case.
@KKTV11News
#BarryMorphew
7:59 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Defense says that prosecutors are blaming CBI for not giving them the information Defense asked for. They say they do not have any emails from the CBI or CCSO or Jeff Lindsey.
@KKTV11News
#BarryMorphew
8:06 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Attorney for CBI says they have released all of the material they have to defense with an exception of a task list which they plan to give CCSO. She says they believe there is only one draft of the arrest warrant and they plan to give that to CCSO soon as well. #BarryMorphew
8:08 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

CBI says they have been in compliance and they will continue to be in compliance with the case and they understand there is a delay in getting information to CCSO but they are trying. #BarryMorphew
8:09 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Judge Lama says he needs to consider if the materials exist- he says the defense has shown him that they do. Are they relevant? He says yes they are and that parts of the material were ordered to be disclosed to the defense. But there are other things he considers before ruling
8:13 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

He also says defense has shown a need for this information regarding the IA investigation into Agent Cahill because he was the lead for CBI on the investigation. He says that #BarryMorphew has a right to see these materials. Motion to quash is denied.
8:17 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Judge Lama will conduct a review of exculpatory information in the IA investigation. They have pushed Agent Cahill's testimony to Feb 1. He is here today in person. He'll be back Feb 1.
8:19 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Discussing the arrest affidavit and the revisions done. Defense says this affidavit says numerous statements were made and evidence that was not included in AA. She says they couldve added or taken out information that would have shown #BarryMorphew didn't do what hes accused of.
8:25 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

CBI says they only have 1 draft of the AA. They will provide it to the DA today. Defense says agent Cahill testified that revisions were made to the AA. Judge says DA will get the revision of AA- they have time to look over it and make necessary motions before giving to defense
8:32 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

The defense says two agents revised the AA. Judge orders revision copy from only one agent. DA has 7 days to review, file motion, and then get that revision to the defense. #BarryMorphew
8:33 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Attorney for defense on other pieces of information defense has tried to get. Says "at this point, we'd need to break into the DA office and get them ourselves." Talking about more motions to quash. #BarryMorphew
8:40 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Attorney for defense on other pieces of information defense has tried to get. Says "at this point, we'd need to break into the DA office and get them ourselves." Talking about more motions to quash. #BarryMorphew
8:40 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

The next item on the list is a motion about pre-trial publicity. Jeff Lindsey was supposed to be here. Defense says they have tried to contact him but he has not responded. #BarryMorphew
8:48 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

The prosecution asks to continue the pre-trial publicity issue to another day and says they didn't know this motion was scheduled today. Judge says that he had scheduled it for today and said it at last hearing. Defense says they want to discuss today. #BarryMorphew
8:53 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Defense says prosecutors continue to make statements to the press and even after the motion was filed DA Stanley continued to talk to members of the media. For the record
@KKTV11News
has not had or aired any interviews with prosecution during the course of this case.
9:04 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Normal practice is to issue a warrant when someone doesn't appear. Judge says he is not inclined to do that and the defense is not objecting. We're waiting to hear if Lindsey will be able to make it in person today.
@KKTV11News
9:15 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Defense says they subpoenaed Jeff Lindsey, they emailed him as well. Iris says she emailed Jeff again to let him know he needed to be here today, no response. She emailed him again to let him know he needed to be here, no response. Iris says this is a violation of subpoena

9:09 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Iris requests that he be ordered to appear tomorrow so they can discuss this motion. Prosecution says the last contact he had with Lindsey was on Jan 5th. Judge asks if Prosecution can text Lindsey to ask if he can be here after his lunch break today.
9:12 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Sounds like Lindsey will be here at 2pm today. #BarryMorphew
9:16 AM · Jan 24, 2022·

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

We're back from a short break. Defense calls Commander Alex Walker with CCSO. He previously worked at the 11th Judicial DA Office. He was the lead investigator on #SuzanneMorphew case.
9:35 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Commander Walker was the one to sign the AA for #BarryMorphew Defense asks about revisions made to the affidavit. He says a lot of the revisions were commas, misspellings, etc. There was a revised version sent to him from Agent Cahill. Doesn't have the email because he left DA
9:40 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Walker says he doesn't recall what the revisions to the AA were from Agent Cahill. He says he remembers that Cahill had only revised up to about page 19. #BarryMorphew
9:43 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Defense turns to the unknown male DNA found on #SuzanneMorphew glove compartment. Commander says he was notified about the DNA match after #BarryMorphew was arrested. He says Agent Cahill told everyone that he was on it and they would get to the bottom of it.
9:45 AM · Jan 24, 2022·

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Commander says no one told him about the matches to the unknown DNA. (reminder Commander Walker was at the DA office at this time as an investigator). As far as the three matches no one told Walker about them before he had signed the affidavit. #BarryMorphew
9:47 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Walker says he received the order asking LE agencies to save communications about the Morphew case. He says he passed it along to agencies- never got questions about it but admits he didn't entirely understand what the order was asking of them.
9:58 AM · Jan 24, 2022·

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Defense questions Walker about the information of the unknown male DNA profile. He says that information would be favorable to the defense. He says he didn't understand that he was supposed to produce this information for prosecutors to give to the defense. #BarryMorphew
10:08 AM · Jan 24, 2022·

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Defense argues that Walker was the one who sent out this order about saving information and emails from investigators that could be material to prosecutor or favorable to defense. Defense asks if he preserved any emails- he says he didn't do anything to save emails from them
10:10 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Defense says prosecutors violated this rule about saving information from investigators. Walker testifies he did not speak with prosecutors before prelim about what to do to preserve his information.
10:14 AM · Jan 24, 2022·

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Defense says she didn't have any communication from the meeting about the DNA match so the only reason the meeting was real was because there was an email about it-- other than that no one took notes during that meeting . #BarryMorphew
10:20 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Defense argues that the information in this meeting is favorable to the defense- but no one produced any notes from either meeting about the DNA matches. There was no one assigned to take any notes during this meeting One of the meetings was days before the second set of prelim
10:24 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Defense says an extraordinary amount of discussion and evidence in this case and that the issue to the unknown DNA is completely tied to this case and that #BarryMorphew had nothing to do with #SuzanneMorphew disappearance.
10:47 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Defense says Lindsey informed all law enforcement in the case they needed to audit their files. Walker says "it sounds like Mr. Lindsey would have said that to us." Still he says he didn't produce any notes or emails regarding the information about the unknown male DNA.
10:52 AM · Jan 24, 2022·

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Defense asks if Walker had produced any notes on the unknown male DNA profile. He says no. She asks about emails. He says no. #BarryMorphew #SuzanneMorphew
10:31 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Defense asks Walker if he talked to Cahill about the Tempe match. He says he doesn't believe so. He said that it sounded like Cahill was reaching out to people about the matches because he had friends and colleagues in the area who could help.
10:56 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Walker says that he doesn't think it was a secret that Agent Cahill "took care of it" He says that he doesn't remember Agent Cahill saying that he took care of the Tempe DNA match when he testified. #BarryMorphew #SuzanneMorphew
11:00 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Time for a break. We'll be back at 1:15
11:07 AM · Jan 24, 2022

Ashley Franco
@AshleyKKTV

Quick update— we’re on a 5 minute break but we are not allowed to have phones or computers in court now due to an issue. More to come after the day is wrapped.
2:42 PM · Jan 24, 2022

CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 , MEDIA,MAPS,TIMELINE *NO DISCUSSION*

Ashley Franco @AshleyKKTV Agent Duge is excused. We're taking a very short break before calling the next witness. @KKTV11News #BarryMorphew #SuzanneMorphew 2:19 PM · Nov 9, 2021· We're back with Jeff Lindsey via WebEx. Still working out some technical problems that they're hoping to get fixed...

www.websleuths.com

 

[Boxer]

Apparently I missed where Suzanne's last phone is an error?
Just going by the PCA, middle of page 5. Pretty big error.

 

[mrjitty]

This point was raised in Post #649, because it would put the last ping of Suzanne's phone at the same place as Mr. Morphew admitted to being in the pre-dawn hours of May 10 (page 74 of Arrest Affidavit). MassGuy, who is quite knowledgeable regarding this case, pointed out that the ping location was apparently not correct (see posts #651 and 717). Still, it's confounding to me that where LE identified the last ping of Suzanne's phone in the Arrest Affidavit was exactly the point where Mr. Morphew turned around after his Elk siting excursion (the County Rd. 283 turnoff in Garfield).

In Post #772 I asked if there published records from the Preliminary Hearing that explain why the location of the last ping on Suzanne’s phone is unreliable (i.e., wasn’t 11.5 miles west of the Poncha Tower), but so far, crickets.

The reporter, Lauren Scharff, mentions Suzanne's last phone ping in a tweet dated August 9, 2021 as part of the preliminary hearing coverage but i couldn't find any mention of rebuttal by Mr. Morphew's counsel. Inquiring minds want to know.

This might partially answer your question

The prelim is not a full test of the evidence and there is some stuff we don't know.

It is now clear from IE's civil complaint that Grusing was prompted to ask if BM might have gone somewhere else (the infamous left turn) by at least 2 data insights

1. Missing mileage
2. Location data suggesting he drove west

This turned out to be inspired because BM admitted the insights were correct.

IMO @MassGuy and others are correct that BM admitted to this because he thought the truck telematics had revealed it, but it seems it was a mobile device - likely BMs own phone but potentially SMs as well.

But as Grusing is not a cellular/GPS data expert IMO he stuck largely to his knitting in the prelim.

There is one related curiosity here.

Why didn't telematics show the left turn? (If indeed it did not)

In fact the only telematics data we have is what the defence exhibited in the prelim.

I recall discussions with @sk716 who is big on the telematics that there were 2 points of note.

1. The telematics exhibited is basically logged data. So every time something happens with the truck, hundreds of tiny data points are saved. But this isn't in itself that useful to humans. Generally telematics would be used to provide data that humans can use like journey data, fuel economy, average speed, journey time, trip mileage yada yada yada. Why is there none of that kind of dashboard reporting data?

e.g GPS positioning data seems to only be logged when the truck stops. Was the truck not capable of plotting it's live route? or was it not saved? or did BM banjax it?

2. The telematics exhibited by the defence is presumably a snapshot of some of the evidence that was discovered. What did they leave out?

tldr - what is curious here about the left turn is that presumably BM did not stop, because we have no telematics end point until he arrives at the RTD bus stop

The last telematics event for BMs truck at the Morphew residence is at 3.49am but the phone does not go dark until 4.23am. This suggests to me the phone was not switched off at the Morphew Residence. Or was he sitting in the driveway in the truck messing with the phone?

I'd really love to hear from the telematics and cellular experts as to how these 2 things fit together. Did the phone shake hands with the network when he turned it off at 4.23 and he didn't realise it would do that? Why don't we have telematics of the left turn? Or do we? Where does the timetable suggest he must have been at 4.23?

IE's civil complaint indicated that there are events on SM's phone that we don't know about, so I am guessing we simply don't have a full deck here, and don't know exactly what the prosecution would argue at trial.

 

[mrjitty]

I wonder if BM had his phone in airplane for the left turn and didn't realise that GPS is received passively. Hence they know he went left because location is logged.

This is much more difficult for the defence to rebut.

e.g. a stationary phone jumping around some meters because of GPS inaccuracy is one thing. But location showing a phone moving west when he was supposed to be driving east is hard to take seriously.

 

[mrjitty]

Defense argues that the information in this meeting is favorable to the defense- but no one produced any notes from either meeting about the DNA matches. There was no one assigned to take any notes during this meeting One of the meetings was days before the second set of prelim

Snipped for focus

Thanks for this @Seattle1

The quote above summarises it for me. Non-existent notes from a meeting about unknown DNA from an non-existent offender supposedly help prove BM's innocence.

At least she can't pull this particular fast one again.

 

[Seattle1]

Snipped for focus.

I am somewhat confused by what your argument is

Any new charges are de novo. The trial process starts from scratch. There are no Brady or discovery violations unless the prosecution were so disorganised as to commit new ones, but it seems doubtful they'd make the same mistake again. Indeed in the motions that followed sanctions e.g. for return of properly, the prosecution brought their A game.

A different question is an argument about whether the sanctions should be re-applied to the new case. This seems unlikely to me given the Judge's dismissal ruling finding good faith, and the prosecution since found the body. However I am fairly confident whatever is decided on that issue will be appealed.

One practical point here - the lion's share of discovery has already been given to IE in this case. No doubt expert reports might be refreshed somewhat, and we don't know what the grave forensics will be.

But as I have said before, this is one aspect I am not losing sleep over. IE played her procedural game - but she isn't easily going to be able to repeat the same tricks

^^bbm

In the August 2, 2021, Renewed Motion for Discovery and Contempt Sanctions and Forthwith Hearing [d-17], it appears that after having received mass amounts of discovery data including a CODIS DNA match letter from the CBI CODIS match unit stating the DNA profile from swabs taken of SM's glove compartment, match the profile for three unsolved SA that occurred in Tempe and Phoenix, AZ, and Chicago, IL, the defense was outraged that this CODIS DNA information was not cited in the AA, and as punishment, suggests the Court either dismiss the charges against BM for violating his Constitutional right to due process, request the Court set reasonable bail, or reduce the charges to second-degree murder! (Take note this Defense Motion predates the BM's preliminary hearing).

In addition, the defense also alleges the withheld and delayed CODIS information from the glove compartment is material and exculpatory and not produced in violation of BM's due process rights -- Brady v Maryland.

Again, as typical of IE and this case, an allegation does not make it evidence or fact!

I couldn't help but be reminded of the pending appellant ruling by the Supreme Court where LS's nemesis, Judge Turner of Fremont County, granted the defense's request to reduce the charges of a confessed father killer to second-degree murder-- less than three months after his arrest, and also before his preliminary hearing, as a sanction for delayed discovery by the prosecution.

I think it's become a sport in the 11th Judicial District Court for defense attorneys (including public defenders) to copy/paste directly from IE's defense motions.

We know that in this case, even the Judge did it.

Let's hope the next prosecution team is keen to IE's procedural game.

 

[mrjitty]

^^bbm

In the August 2, 2021, Renewed Motion for Discovery and Contempt Sanctions and Forthwith Hearing [d-17], it appears that after having received mass amounts of discovery data including a CODIS DNA match letter from the CBI CODIS match unit stating the DNA profile from swabs taken of SM's glove compartment, match the profile for three unsolved SA that occurred in Tempe and Phoenix, AZ, and Chicago, IL, the defense was outraged that this CODIS DNA information was not cited in the AA, and as punishment, suggests the Court either dismiss the charges against BM for violating his Constitutional right to due process, request the Court set reasonable bail, or reduce the charges to second-degree murder! (Take note this Defense Motion predates the BM's preliminary hearing).

In addition, the defense also alleges the withheld and delayed CODIS information from the glove compartment is material and exculpatory and not produced in violation of BM's due process rights -- Brady v Maryland.

Again, as typical of IE and this case, an allegation does not make it evidence or fact!

I couldn't help but be reminded of the pending appellant ruling by the Supreme Court where LS's nemesis, Judge Turner of Fremont County, granted the defense's request to reduce the charges of a confessed father killer to second-degree murder-- less than three months after his arrest, and also before his preliminary hearing, as a sanction for delayed discovery by the prosecution.

I think it's become a sport in the 11th Judicial District Court for defense attorneys (including public defenders) to copy/paste directly from IE's defense motions.

We know that in this case, even the Judge did it.

Let's hope the next prosecution team is keen to IE's procedural game.

Yeah. I think to stop this you probably need to call a CODIS / DNA expert come into Court pre-trial - at least to make clear that such issues need to be argued in the trial and can't be litigated pre-trial like IE does above.

It's also annoying that if Cahill hadn't bumbled his testimony we wouldn't have to be dealing with all this nonsense.

 

[mrjitty]

That is the issue. Prosecution should have turned over the DNA testing results, how they followed through and how they determined those partial matches were connected to people who could not be involved or be honest about any unknown partial matches. I don’t understand why it was obscured to begin with unless there was concern that they wouldn’t get past probable cause. It seems like if prosecution would have been forthright it would have been addressed during the preliminary and we wouldn’t be here 3 years later talking about DNA. Maybe that is a naive view but sure seems straightforward to me.

A partial match isn't connected to anyone that is the point.

This same sleight of hand was tried in the McStay case where a degraded sample of allegedly 4 partials was amplified with computer models and said to reveal the real gang of killers.

Of course you can make such arguments with experts at trial, but I am with @Seattle1 that in fact nothing significant was withheld from the defence as regards DNA ... especially not exculpatory meeting notes

Where I agree with you is that if Cahill had testified in a professional manner we wouldn't still be talking about this 3 years later

 

[Seattle1]

Here’s my wonderings for tonight:

If the murdering murderer who murders took down the trail cams or possible mini indoor cameras -
What day did he delete the app(s) from his phone? And would this data be available to the prosecution and LE with a warrant for that data? Meaning he ended a contract or service.
Longshot - Maybe he didn’t delete this info and he still has it.

I recall we had similar questions in Kelsey Berreth's murder but it was with her neighbor's ring-cam surveillance where the owner had a no-fee account for a limited amount of data storage and the surveillance video would just record over the prior data. I think we learned that the only way to preserve the data would be if the owner emailed the recorded events to herself. According to MG, she stated that BM was constantly checking on his cameras daily. Other than a stable home WIFI connection, I don't know that BM used anything else with his trail cams. It wouldn't surprise me if he did not keep the data or similar to Berreth's neighbor, did not pay for storage. JMO