Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #65 *ARREST*

[Deleted member 222031]

RSBM
I accept they have not found the body, I was caught off guard by no physical evidence. It seems that without a body or physical evidence. The only options left open for charging Barry, was him putting his foot in his mouth ad nauseum, until he couldn't unravel his own lies or there was a witness to her death/burial. IMO

Yeah but just because a defense attorney says it doesn't make it true. They are spinning.

 

[Lilypad13]

That is what i said. Melinda was fearful and deleted the text. If her sister was fearful of sending it to someone else, ask yourself why. It had to be bad.

I’ve always thought it was strange that Melinda supposedly deleted the text because she was afraid she would accidentally send it to someone else. Isn’t that something that would require several deliberate steps? It’s not an easy mistake to make. (Whoops! I just opened up that text from Suzanne and hit the forward button and selected someone’s name to send it to?!) No that doesn’t make sense to me. I like Melinda very much and have no doubt she received a shocking text from Suzanne saying she was scared etc. But do you think LE told her to say she that deleted the text? She said LE had been able to recover the text from her phone but maybe she notified LE of the text from Suzanne very early on after she was reported missing, then after LE got the text from Melinda and saw the content they advised her not to tell anyone about it and asked her to delete it from her phone?

Maybe LE didn’t want Barry to know about the text and they didn’t trust Melinda not to show it to someone and have it get back to Barry or start rumors that get picked up by reporters or YouTubers. That text might be the reason LE did not treat this like an abduction from the start. What makes more sense is LE wanted to keep Suzanne’s text quiet as they began to investigate Barry. Did LE finally allow Melinda to talk about the text as long as she agreed to keep the details secret until the trial? Or did she decide on her own to reveal the existence of this text even though LE advised her not to? Not that it really matters now but I just always thought the reason Melinda said she deleted it was odd.

If it were me and my sister sent me a text saying something awful had happened or something was wrong or she found out something and she was scared - and then she went missing the next day there is no way I would have deleted that text! I would have called the police right away and told them what my sister said and suggest very strongly that they should be looking at her husband. KWIM?! And that’s probably what she did. If I was afraid I would send the text to someone by accident and I was going to delete such an important piece of evidence from my phone then I would have at least made a screenshot or copied it to store somewhere else for safe keeping. Especially if it gives details about what was going on in Suzanne’s mind and in that house immediately before she disappeared. Suzanne might have given Melinda details in that text about why she was scared of Barry and/or said she was going to file for divorce. Suzanne might have felt like she was in danger and sent that text to her sister just in case her gut feeling was right. She may have even said something like if anything happens to me Barry did it! So why would Melinda delete something that important? I don’t think that’s exactly what happened.

I think Melinda suspected Barry from the jump and she will turn out to be a hero for alerting the CCSO about the text as soon as she found out Suzanne was missing. Melinda was probably in shock & disbelief that she had literally just received this awful text from Suzanne and before she could even talk to her about it she vanished! MOO

 

[Deleted member 222031]

I’ve always thought it was strange that Melinda supposedly deleted the text because she was afraid she would accidentally send it to someone else. Isn’t that something that would require several deliberate steps? It’s not an easy mistake to make. (Whoops! I just opened up that text from Suzanne and hit the forward button and selected someone’s name to send it to?!) No that doesn’t make sense to me. I like Melinda very much and have no doubt she received a shocking text from Suzanne saying she was scared etc. But do you think LE told her to say she that deleted the text? She said LE had been able to recover the text from her phone but maybe she notified LE of the text from Suzanne very early on after she was reported missing, then after LE got the text from Melinda and saw the content they advised her not to tell anyone about it and asked her to delete it from her phone?

Maybe LE didn’t want Barry to know about the text and they didn’t trust Melinda not to show it to someone and have it get back to Barry or start rumors that get picked up by reporters or YouTubers. That text might be the reason LE did not treat this like an abduction from the start. What makes more sense is LE wanted to keep Suzanne’s text quiet as they began to investigate Barry. Did LE finally allow Melinda to talk about the text as long as she agreed to keep the details secret until the trial? Or did she decide on her own to reveal the existence of this text even though LE advised her not to? Not that it really matters now but I just always thought the reason Melinda said she deleted it was odd. If it were me and my sister sent me a text saying something awful happened or something was wrong and she was scared - and then she vanished the next day there is no way I would have deleted that text! I would have called the police right away and told them what Suzanne said and that they should be looking at her husband. KWIM?! And that’s probably what she did. If I was afraid I would send the text to someone by accident and I was going to delete such an important piece of evidence from my texts then I would have at least made a screenshot or copied it to store somewhere else for safe keeping. Especially if it gives details about what was going on in Suzanne’s mind and in that house immediately before she disappeared. Suzanne might have given Melinda details in that text about why she was scared of Barry and/or said she was going to file for divorce. Suzanne might have felt like she was in danger and sent that text to her sister just in case her gut feeling was right. She may have even said something like if anything happens to me Barry did it! So why would Melinda delete something that important? I don’t think that’s exactly what happened.

I think Melinda suspected Barry from the jump and she will turn out to be a hero for alerting the CCSO about the text as soon as she found out Suzanne was missing. Melinda was probably in shock & disbelief that she had literally just received this awful text from Suzanne and before she could even talk to her about it she vanished! MOO

My impression is that Melinda had in the past rec'd one or more texts with very private information that she inadvertently sent to another person by mistake. No doubt it had difficult repercussions. She wanted to avoid that possibility to protect SM (for whatever reason - we can speculate but we haven't seen the text).

Melinda was pretty cagey in her language describing the text, in my opinion. She has never defined what SM was scared of so we are left to wonder. Surely if SM revealed a threat to her life, Melinda would have reported that to LE immediately.

Melinda said she deleted the text shortly after receiving it. Since she says LE had to retrieve it, apparently, she did not screenshot or archive it.

I think the text timeline of receipt (Fri. night) & delete (same time frame) is clear. It may be a piece of evidence but whether Melinda or PE thinks so we don't know. At least according to the videos & statements from Melinda that I have read/seen.

 

[10ofRods]

Just to clarify. Malinda said she deleted the text because she was fearful of accidently sending it to someone else.

I wonder who could have been on Melinda's regular textlist, to whom she could have accidentally sent it? It's not that easy to accidentally forward a text, so I sense a high degree of anxiety about keeping that text - almost as if Melinda felt she herself might be in danger if someone saw it on her phone.

I do know that when domestic violence is involved, that the degree of paranoia that potential victims feel can be very high and somewhat contagious. It almost feels as if whatever Suzanne knew and texted to her sister made her sister feel as if Barry had a long reach, indeed.

My own suspicion is that BM at the very least was reading all of Suzanne's texts (iCloud) and other messages - but Melinda may have believed that deleting it from her phone would make it unavailable to him.

I have often wondered if BM was following along in real time (by being signed into Suzanne's FB or iCloud on his own phone) as she texted her sister (and the next morning, as she messaged with her friend). That's not an uncommon strategy for controlling spouses. All by itself, it's very frightening.

 

[jondaba]

Yeah but just because a defense attorney says it doesn't make it true. They are spinning.

Sleuthers,

Eytan and Neilsen represented the defense in People v. Cody Longo. You can find the case here :
‘Days of Our Lives,’ 'Hollywood Heights' actor charged with sexual assault of 9-year-old girl
and other places. I highly recommend Sleuthers familiarize themselves with E&N’s representation in this case.

E&N enabled Longo to beat the rap, getting him a marvelous deal - he pleaded guilty to some imaginary charge that had nothing to do with what he was arrested for or any 9-year-old girl. No jail time.

Read that E&N spoke about their client with missionary zeal - insisting on his complete and total innocence. If you did not know it was total defense attorney b.s., you’d have actually felt sorry for Longo, an innocent passer by - wrong place wrong time, trapped by the wicked system!

Sound familiar?

"It is unfair that Mr. Morphew is sitting in jail being held hostage when there is no physical evidence that a murder has occurred." - Attorney Iris Eytan.

https://mobile.twitter.com/LaurenScharfTV/status/1418261337331933193

E&N are in this case for the same two reasons as they represented Cody Longo: The Money and the Thrill of the Game!

Per the rules of the Game, they will say or argue anything that will help BM beat the rap. (within a few ethical limits)

E&N are at the top of their game when it comes to sounding CONVINCING AND LOGICAL!

But always remember - anything they say has but one purpose - to beat the rap! Not justice, not fairness, not elucidation - E&N are here to beat the rap!

So fasten your seatbelts and watch the show that E&N are bound to put on (especially for BM)

But bear in mind that Judge Murphy and the prosecution have previously seen and heard the entire E&N show before. See Judge Murphy’s reaction to E&N’s plea for bail. In one ear and out the other. Been there done that. No rap beating in his court!
This aint the Cody Longo case.

#Let’s Win This Case!

 

[Deleted member 222031]

I wonder who could have been on Melinda's regular textlist, to whom she could have accidentally sent it? It's not that easy to accidentally forward a text, so I sense a high degree of anxiety about keeping that text - almost as if Melinda felt she herself might be in danger if someone saw it on her phone.

I do know that when domestic violence is involved, that the degree of paranoia that potential victims feel can be very high and somewhat contagious. It almost feels as if whatever Suzanne knew and texted to her sister made her sister feel as if Barry had a long reach, indeed.

My own suspicion is that BM at the very least was reading all of Suzanne's texts (iCloud) and other messages - but Melinda may have believed that deleting it from her phone would make it unavailable to him.

I have often wondered if BM was following along in real time (by being signed into Suzanne's FB or iCloud on his own phone) as she texted her sister (and the next morning, as she messaged with her friend). That's not an uncommon strategy for controlling spouses. All by itself, it's very frightening.

I don't find accidentally forwarding a text to the wrong person unusual at all. Nor sending a response to the wrong person which reveals info one would not intentionally reveal. It's happened to me. Texting the wrong person is generally a benign event but the risk is always there in our trigger-happy fingers! MOO

 

[Warwick7]

I wonder who could have been on Melinda's regular textlist, to whom she could have accidentally sent it? It's not that easy to accidentally forward a text, so I sense a high degree of anxiety about keeping that text - almost as if Melinda felt she herself might be in danger if someone saw it on her phone.

I do know that when domestic violence is involved, that the degree of paranoia that potential victims feel can be very high and somewhat contagious. It almost feels as if whatever Suzanne knew and texted to her sister made her sister feel as if Barry had a long reach, indeed.

My own suspicion is that BM at the very least was reading all of Suzanne's texts (iCloud) and other messages - but Melinda may have believed that deleting it from her phone would make it unavailable to him.

I have often wondered if BM was following along in real time (by being signed into Suzanne's FB or iCloud on his own phone) as she texted her sister (and the next morning, as she messaged with her friend). That's not an uncommon strategy for controlling spouses. All by itself, it's very frightening.

Good Lord @10ofRods that could have very well happened.

He could have been watching in real time...oh crap!

 

[10ofRods]

Barry sitting down with the FBI on April 5, is literally an attorney’s worst nightmare.

He answered questions over lengthy interviews prior to that, when law enforcement wouldn’t have had nearly as much evidence.

So inconsistencies in those previous interviews will be problematic, as will his explanations for the evidence he was confronted in that last one.

No wonder that AA is so damn long…

And I think that interview is what will sink him, as he had to completely revise what he'd said earlier (and I bet he'd already had a couple of cycles of "revising" (lying).

That, combined with something very specific, such as a missing tool box or cooler, video of him with and then without said box or cooler, and the bleaching of very specific portions of the house. If he's a real dum-dum he could even have used the tool box in the commission of the crime, thereby necessitating, in his mind, the bleach in the hotel room (for the tools - he probably figured that even if he just used one tool, they would all need bleaching, just in case).

While I have been reluctant to think that Barry did something like...shoot Suzanne... (I've favored drowning or strangling as CoD), the bleach in the house can't really be explained by my theories. Sounds like there was blood involved. No way Barry could have gotten rid of all the microscopic blood/DNA evidence. If in fact Barry did use a gun (surely that would have been his preferred weapon), did he think it through very carefully? I bet he did.

Like a hit man.

 

[Warwick7]

Right now I'm still in hot water over a text I accidentally sent.

I had been texting with several people at one time. Without taking notice, when I went to fw information, my cell sent it to the last person I received a text from NOT the person I picked to send it to. It is a blasted mess even today.

So yes it can happen and very easily.

 

[Love Never Fails]

I’ve always thought it was strange that Melinda supposedly deleted the text because she was afraid she would accidentally send it to someone else. Isn’t that something that would require several deliberate steps? It’s not an easy mistake to make. (Whoops! I just opened up that text from Suzanne and hit the forward button and selected someone’s name to send it to?!) No that doesn’t make sense to me. I like Melinda very much and have no doubt she received a shocking text from Suzanne saying she was scared etc. But do you think LE told her to say she that deleted the text? She said LE had been able to recover the text from her phone but maybe she notified LE of the text from Suzanne very early on after she was reported missing, then after LE got the text from Melinda and saw the content they advised her not to tell anyone about it and asked her to delete it from her phone?

Maybe LE didn’t want Barry to know about the text and they didn’t trust Melinda not to show it to someone and have it get back to Barry or start rumors that get picked up by reporters or YouTubers. That text might be the reason LE did not treat this like an abduction from the start. What makes more sense is LE wanted to keep Suzanne’s text quiet as they began to investigate Barry. Did LE finally allow Melinda to talk about the text as long as she agreed to keep the details secret until the trial? Or did she decide on her own to reveal the existence of this text even though LE advised her not to? Not that it really matters now but I just always thought the reason Melinda said she deleted it was odd.

If it were me and my sister sent me a text saying something awful had happened or something was wrong or she found out something and she was scared - and then she went missing the next day there is no way I would have deleted that text! I would have called the police right away and told them what my sister said and suggest very strongly that they should be looking at her husband. KWIM?! And that’s probably what she did. If I was afraid I would send the text to someone by accident and I was going to delete such an important piece of evidence from my phone then I would have at least made a screenshot or copied it to store somewhere else for safe keeping. Especially if it gives details about what was going on in Suzanne’s mind and in that house immediately before she disappeared. Suzanne might have given Melinda details in that text about why she was scared of Barry and/or said she was going to file for divorce. Suzanne might have felt like she was in danger and sent that text to her sister just in case her gut feeling was right. She may have even said something like if anything happens to me Barry did it! So why would Melinda delete something that important? I don’t think that’s exactly what happened.

I think Melinda suspected Barry from the jump and she will turn out to be a hero for alerting the CCSO about the text as soon as she found out Suzanne was missing. Melinda was probably in shock & disbelief that she had literally just received this awful text from Suzanne and before she could even talk to her about it she vanished! MOO

I can only speak for myself and my iPhone. I have forwarded a message to the wrong person by mistake. Easy to do. And say if Barry was listed in her phone right next to another name that starts with B, it’s so easy to hit the wrong name. I’ve done it. And sometimes I think my phone has a mind of it’s own. In any case, she was quite clear that she deleted it so that would not happen. Suzanne was in fear and her sister took it seriously. I’m not sure I would have called police unless I was asked to do so. I am sure that when Suzanne came up missing, her sister DID contact police.
I think LE was onto ole Barry right away.

 

[CGray123]

They may not have everything at this point, as evidence may still be being processed. Regardless, the defense is likely playing a game of words here.

This makes a lot of sense to me.

Given the source of the comment is an advocate going all out for her client, I understood IE's statement that there is "no physical evidence that a murder has occurred" to be an observation that SM's physical remains are not available to examine directly, to establish a cause of death. MOO, IE was stating nothing more than everyone already knows, and she may be making a point BM desperately wants her to make, rather than an argument she believes - professionally - is likely to persuade the judge.

Almost all evidence is circumstantial, including forensic evidence. Since the DA has filed charges supported by a 130 page affidavit and a terabyte of evidence, I am reasonably confident the evidence will show, beyond a reasonable doubt, that BM murdered his wife after deliberation and committed all the ancillary offenses.

All MOO.

 

[10ofRods]

I don't find accidentally forwarding a text to the wrong person unusual at all. Nor sending a response to the wrong person which reveals info one would not intentionally reveal. It's happened to me. Texting the wrong person is generally a benign event but the risk is always there in our trigger-happy fingers! MOO

Thank you for that - we're all different (and have different phones, too). I have definitely texted the wrong person, but on my phone, I still don't know exactly where the forward button is - I always have to look for it. Then I have to remember how I've stored the contact info of the person I'm trying to send it to. This is an Apple phone. Since Suzanne had an Apple watch (at least she did in 2019), I assume she was in the Apple ecosystem.

Emails...well, that's different, because my work email has an icon for "forward" that looks a lot like the one for "reply."

Maybe the app they were using had one of those "reply all" buttons and some people have it set up to send to all their family members (many people try to text their whole families at least once a week). I have a relative who constantly hits "send to all" in FB messenger (which, btw, they could have been using - we don't know). So then, that same relative has an in-law who adds all addresses to her message group - so at one point, I was getting emails from all these people I didn't know (with only their out-of-state phone numbers or a name I didn't recognize). It was SO frustrating to get them to stop (I had to turn off notifications, and that made me mad because I wanted notifications from my daughters, granddaughters and husband - but that's it). IOW, I only message a tiny number of people - but some people try really hard to send...stuff...(memes, religious stuff, inspo, influencer videos, MLM scheme stuff) to EVERYONE.

So you're right - Melinda could be a "send to everyone" kind of user and mostly has happy, cheery stuff to send.

In my line of work, my colleagues and I have to be pretty careful not to email-bomb someone with some pretty gross pictures on occasion.

 

[Warwick7]

This makes a lot of sense to me.

Given the source of the comment is an advocate going all out for her client, I understood IE's statement that there is "no physical evidence that a murder has occurred" to be an observation that SM's physical remains are not available to examine directly, to establish a cause of death. MOO, IE was stating nothing more than everyone already knows, and she may be making a point BM desperately wants her to make, rather than an argument she believes - professionally - is likely to persuade the judge.

Almost all evidence is circumstantial, including forensic evidence. Since the DA has filed charges supported by a 130 page affidavit and a terabyte of evidence, I am reasonably confident the evidence will show, beyond a reasonable doubt, that BM murdered his wife after deliberation and committed all the ancillary offenses.

All MOO.

Agreed!

The notion that one cannot be convicted on circumstantial evidence is, of course, false. Most criminal convictions are based on circumstantial evidence, although it has to meet established standards of proof.

And since there exits a 130 page AA.....need I say more.

 

[CGray123]

Barry sure has an aversion to having his face seen in public. I mean, he didn't even get involved with the media or LE when Suzanne first went missing, except for his 30 second 'Oh Suzanne' clip, he talked to LS off camera, makes no public plea, didn't attend vigil, search, etc.

As arrogant as he comes across, he sure doesn't want his mug in the public. Hmmmmm, what/who else could Barry be hiding from??

This puzzles me. I can't for the life of me understand what advantages BM (and now his attorneys) seeks from keeping his face off camera. My limited imagination struggles to see this, but I have a gut feeling it's important somehow.

1. Does BM have experience that has taught him his face is an open book, and without the ability physically to impose or at least distract the listener people will gain insight into his thoughts? Does the behavior say anything about his desire for - or obsession with - control?

2. Is BM so given to angry outbursts and physical violence when under stress that a video of him reacting to the events and statements made in court could provide evidence against him? Is this one reason a third member of the defense team had to be with him as he listened? To prevent him from turning the switch and interrupting?

3. Does BM have a history of avoiding public exposure?

4. Has anyone seen this behavior in another defendant?

5. Is it possible BM has an actual conscience, or the ability to feel shame?

This has been a good question from the beginning. Thanks to those of you who remind us.

 

[Scootie98]

Thanks. That makes things a little more interesting.

It does open the door to there being physical evidence that Suzanne is dead, while at the same time not conclusively proving that someone murdered her (suicide perhaps).

Even so, I still don’t think they found proof that she is in fact dead.

Well, was it not established that the crime scene was the home? That would suggest some physical evidence was collected....while not

I don't find accidentally forwarding a text to the wrong person unusual at all. Nor sending a response to the wrong person which reveals info one would not intentionally reveal. It's happened to me. Texting the wrong person is generally a benign event but the risk is always there in our trigger-happy fingers! MOO

If you have ever forwarded a text in error, (and I have....fortunately a benign, insignificant one...creating some minor embarrassment...) it isn't that hard. The gravity of the email she got from Suzanne was like such that, she genuinely feared its content getting into the wrong hands, such as another relative who would act (react) on that information...jumping into a domestic situation, possibly. I remember years ago, on an older voice mail machine...getting a message from a complete stranger. They thought they were talking to a relative's machine...left a message about "Aunt Betty died...and please contact so and so as soon as you can...I am in a hurry to get to such and such a place...here's her phone number"..)...this was before cell phones were everywhere...but not that long ago; and I could tell it was legit. Anyway, I sensed the urgency of the message, somewhat frantic. So I called that number, with some hesitancy...and told the other person of this individual's passing...and explaining that I was a complete stranger..I remember playing back the message to them also. That person still reacted to the news as if they knew me...I can imagine how a relative of Melanie's might react to an inadvertant text message from Suzanne, especially if they knew Barry and Suzanne well. Totally can relate to her actions and thoughts.

 

[Fireflize]

This puzzles me. I can't for the life of me understand what advantages BM (and now his attorneys) seeks from keeping his face off camera. My limited imagination struggles to see this, but I have a gut feeling it's important somehow.

1. Does BM have experience that has taught him his face is an open book, and without the ability physically to impose or at least distract the listener people will gain insight into his thoughts? Does the behavior say anything about his desire for - or obsession with - control?

2. Is BM so given to angry outbursts and physical violence when under stress that a video of him reacting to the events and statements made in court could provide evidence against him? Is this one reason a third member of the defense team had to be with him as he listened? To prevent him from turning the switch and interrupting?

3. Does BM have a history of avoiding public exposure?

4. Has anyone seen this behavior in another defendant?

5. Is it possible BM has an actual conscience, or the ability to feel shame?

This has been a good question from the beginning. Thanks to those of you who remind us.

My guess is, he has done things using aliases. Moo

 

[Lilypad13]

My impression is that Melinda had in the past rec'd one or more texts with very private information that she inadvertently sent to another person by mistake. No doubt it had difficult repercussions. She wanted to avoid that possibility to protect SM (for whatever reason - we can speculate but we haven't seen the text).

Melinda was pretty cagey in her language describing the text, in my opinion. She has never defined what SM was scared of so we are left to wonder. Surely if SM revealed a threat to her life, Melinda would have reported that to LE immediately.

Melinda said she deleted the text shortly after receiving it. Since she says LE had to retrieve it, apparently, she did not screenshot or archive it.

I think the text timeline of receipt (Fri. night) & delete (same time frame) is clear. It may be a piece of evidence but whether Melinda or PE thinks so we don't know. At least according to the videos & statements from Melinda that I have read/seen.

Maybe she did decide to delete it on her own? I certainly don’t know for certain what she did with the text message but I just find it strange that she would delete something like that because she was afraid she would forward it to someone by mistake. And you think she had done that before? I mean I can see how you might accidentally send your own text to someone you didn’t mean to or how you could accidentally send a response to the wrong person. Especially if you are responding to someone privately about something in a group text. But have ya’ll ever inadvertently forwarded a text you received from someone to someone else? Is this a thing?! I don’t see how that happens without catching the mistake before you hit send. Even if I wanted to forward a text to someone I would have to highlight it and go through several steps in order to do that. Or take a photo of it and forward that but I don’t see how it would be an easy mistake to make. Also I’m assuming since they were sisters they were using an established text chain with lots of other texts going back and forth located above Suzanne’s last text. That would be a lot to accidentally forward to someone else.

Oh well I don’t know why I even brought it up because it really doesn’t matter. I just read some posts clarifying why Melinda said she deleted the text and so I guess I was curious if it sounded unlikely to anyone else because it always bugged me. I figured it might not have gone down exactly like Melinda said but not because she was dishonest or trying to mislead anyone but rather she was asked by LE to delete it or to say she had deleted it so no one would ask her to see it or read it during an interview. Can you imagine if the media got a hold of it? I can just see the Daily Mail article! And maybe if Barry got wind of it Melinda would be in danger if it was on her phone if one of his goons tried to get a hold of it!

I think what Suzanne texted Melinda about Barry was so damning that LE focused on him as the prime suspect from day one. I hope whatever Suzanne shared with Melinda in that text comes to light during the trial!

 

[Knox]

That is what i said. Melinda was fearful and deleted the text. If her sister was fearful of sending it to someone else, ask yourself why. It had to be bad.

No argument from me on the potential content of that text. I was just clarifying WHY Malinda deleted Suzanne's message.

 

[Scootie98]

No argument from me on the potential content of that text. I was just clarifying WHY Malinda deleted Suzanne's message.

There is the possibility that in Suzanne's text...she asked Melinda to delete it after reading it..or at the very least..to make sure it doesn't get into the wrong hands....I am sure she was accustomed to covering her own tracks...and was just looking out for her sister, Melinda, and herself as she usually did, if that were the case.

 

[CGray123]

@Seattle1 sbm bbm. Re: bbm. yes, I am aware. In rereading my post, I see room for possible confusion for some Sleuthers, so thanks for your post, clarifying for everyone.

My post said:
"My point: MSM reports are only as accurate as sources quoted, if reporter does not do independent research, conduct further interviews, etc. The article seems to suggest each & every individual atty w'in a fed dist atty or st. prosecutor's office is free to play/negotiate according to that individual's whim." bbm to my own post.
Not true for state cases, not true foe federal cases.

"Also this post addresses only fed cases, not CO as I did not dig down into state law or protocol."

My apologies to anyone who was uncertain about the post, which was meant to focus on MSM reporting.

I understood what you were getting at, although the reference to USDOJ policy was confusing at first.

All prosecutors are ultimately accountable for their actions in a democracy, and no elected official likes being embarrassed by the actions of subordinates. I had a mentor once early in my career, who told me something I never forgot. "I have had a chance to see you work, and I trust your judgment," he said. "But always remember to keep me informed, so that I can support you when you're challenged." The implicit message I took from this was that if he was blindsided by something he considered an error or misunderstanding on my part, he might not be able to support me no matter what his overall assessment was of my work.

This is how all well run organizations work, from the U.S. Government to local county offices. The USDOJ is so large and its responsibilities so important that it has a detailed manual to assure people know how discretion is authorized. In a rural DA's office it is logical there is much less formal structure. But the principle is the same. You have discretion, but take care not to embarrass the boss with your use of it. If there is any doubt or if it's an important case, bring the issue to the top to be sure you handle it properly.

So it doesn't surprise me or worry me that a huge number of cases are resolved by plea agreements, or that local prosecutors have broad discretion.

But I am firmly convinced that this case is headed for trial unless BM is ready to accept life in prison. I could be surprised by something like an issue of competency to stand trial, or insanity, driven by the professional standards of BM's attorneys rather than BM himself. But that seems a very remote possibility now.