GUILTY TX - Christina Morris, 23, Plano, 30 August 2014 - #33 *Arrest*

[catpatrol]

I saw that this morning too.. I googled it & still don't really know what it means... but I didn't pursue it.

I googled it too, seemed like it may be standard protocol for a defense lawyer to assemble a "team" - but I may be completely off.

 

[Cortne]

SOP

Happy pre Friday

 

[VTinTX]

This is from California, but may help us understand what the ex parte order is:

http://www.suttercourts.com/sites/default/files/forms/EX PARTE APPLICATION.pdf


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[VTinTX]

This is from California, but may help us understand what the ex parte order is:

http://www.suttercourts.com/sites/default/files/forms/EX PARTE APPLICATION.pdf


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So, can we assume that EA's lawyer is assembling a team, but EA can't afford it, so the team will be provided by the state?


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[daisytrail]

So, can we assume that EA's lawyer is assembling a team, but EA can't afford it, so the team will be provided by the state?


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My take is that it means that the request to the judge the was granted by the judge for now, and that the prosecution may weigh in on the matter later. They probably won't. Isn't this more or less routine? I don't know if it means the State of Texas will pay or not.

 

[VTinTX]

My take is that it means that the request to the judge the was granted by the judge for now, and that the prosecution may weigh in on the matter later. They probably won't. Isn't this more or less routine? I don't know if it means the State of Texas will pay or not.

I honestly have no idea Daisy. Just a thought based on a the link I provided. I'm learning as I go here. [emoji4]


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[Faithx2]

For those that were interested HF's partner in the drug bust seems to have popped up on SM again. Still have not been able to find her mugshot or arrest info. I wonder why she is not in jail with him.

 

[Happyshoes]

For those that were interested HF's partner in the drug bust seems to have popped up on SM again. Still have not been able to find her mugshot or arrest info. I wonder why she is not in jail with him.

Could this person be the CI (if there was one?). That's been a thought in the back of my head. I 99% agree that EA just went off on Christina when he couldn't get any attention or drugs, but if there is anything tying them all together, it might be this kind of thing. She knew too much? JMO and speculating this morning. WELCOME TO NEWCOMERS! I'm getting the feeling that the majority of helpers on here are either very interested in human behavior and what makes people do the things they do and/or some of us have personal experience that draws us here...in my case, life-changing and I sympathize with others going through something similar. You guys on here are awesome and caring, it gives me hope. Peace for Christina's family!

 

[SteveS]

I googled it too, seemed like it may be standard protocol for a defense lawyer to assemble a "team" - but I may be completely off.

This is the paperwork underlying the fairly standard procedure involved in mounting a legal defense for a client who cannot afford it, Collin County Texas version. The "state" will pay necessary expenses, and it gets authorized by the judge in the case, but the defense has to make a formal request in advance and have it approved - they don't get a blank check to spend at their own discretion. In this instance, it's apparently the hiring of a legal investigator that has been approved.

 

[catpatrol]

This is the paperwork underlying the fairly standard procedure involved in mounting a legal defense for a client who cannot afford it, Collin County Texas version. The "state" will pay necessary expenses, and it gets authorized by the judge in the case, but the defense has to make a formal request in advance and have it approved - they don't get a blank check to spend at their own discretion. In this instance, it's apparently the hiring of a legal investigator that has been approved.

Thanks.
Weird that the description has now been taken down from the Collin County court records website and it just says "Order" - anyone else seeing that?

Any idea what "changes in the weeks ahead" this will result in, as per TYM's post above?

 

[SteveS]

"Any idea what "changes in the weeks ahead" this will result in...?

"Changes"? LOL I know that's not your term, but this case will simply proceed, as cases do.

At some point, the state will get around to sending this to a grand jury, and then there will be the filing of formal AK charges - but that might not happen for months. I don't think they're in any hurry, because (a) he's locked up and going nowhere while they take their sweet time, and (b) once they have formal charges, they are legally required to show their evidence to the defense. As time passes, they may also at some point decide to start towards murder charges, but imo that's waiting on the passing of more time as proof EA's actions made her vanish from life itself, or the discovery of a dead body. I'm thinking they may wait until April or so before heading that direction, if they don't find her.

Taking their time allows investigation to proceed unimpeded, with no alert to bad guys as to where or what they are looking at.

I expect that most if not all of what we'll see in the next month will be simply procedural stuff (such as we have here). The next biggie to cause a stir, if the state takes their sweet time with the GJ as should be expected, will be the release of the bond hearing transcript, which is likely to hit the news. Look for that in about a month, give or take a week.

 

[SteveS]

By the way, it looks to me like AK is close to a slam dunk and would likely get him 99 years behind bars since no jury will offer leniency to him when he won't tell what he did with her. And the spectre of "and maybe he killed her too" hanging over the punishment aspect will also push the sentence to 99 imo.

On the other hand, bringing charges for murder - more elements to prove, and without a body - would be much harder. So, I suspect that even if they're fully convinced CM was murdered by EA, they might proceed with AK charges only, sorta "ignoring" the murder for the time being. There is no statute of limitations on bringing the murder charges, and once he's permanently jailed with an AK conviction, they can wait and proceed when they feel like they have a DP-likely case (as once he's locked up for 99, no need to bring a LWOP case).

 

[Happyshoes]

By the way, it looks to me like AK is close to a slam dunk and would likely get him 99 years behind bars since no jury will offer leniency to him when he won't tell what he did with her. And the spectre of "and maybe he killed her too" hanging over the punishment aspect will also push the sentence to 99 imo.

On the other hand, bringing charges for murder - more elements to prove, and without a body - would be much harder. So, I suspect that even if they're fully convinced CM was murdered by EA, they might proceed with AK charges only, sorta "ignoring" the murder for the time being. There is no statute of limitations on bringing the murder charges, and once he's permanently jailed with an AK conviction, they can wait and proceed when they feel like they have a DP-likely case (as once he's locked up for 99, no need to bring a LWOP case).

I agree here - they have him where they want him. Will keep praying he will tell the story for Christina's family's sake. He has to know by now that he's not going home. I read somewhere that EA's attorney, Gore, co-counseled with Paul Johnson before but I don't have the link; at any rate, I expect he will get good representation. Go PPD!!

 

[Kristin626]

FYI, I looked around at other trash cans in the area at SAL and Granite Parkway and they pretty much all had different companies listed. Sometimes there were huge bins 5 feet from each other with different private company labels...where do you even START when thinking about where she could be if she is out in a landfill somewhere?! How heartbreaking!

A few examples (all with local phone numbers listed on the containers):
Bluebonnet Waste Control
Allied Waste Services
Republic Services

 

[catpatrol]

I agree here - they have him where they want him. Will keep praying he will tell the story for Christina's family's sake. He has to know by now that he's not going home. I read somewhere that EA's attorney, Gore, co-counseled with Paul Johnson before but I don't have the link; at any rate, I expect he will get good representation. Go PPD!!

BBM
Interesting... I read that HF's attorney, Mark Watson, co-counseled with PJ. (http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/201...reats-abduction-seeking-help.html/#more-45854)

 

[SteveS]

I agree here - they have him where they want him. Will keep praying he will tell the story for Christina's family's sake. He has to know by now that he's not going home. I read somewhere that EA's attorney, Gore, co-counseled with Paul Johnson before but I don't have the link; at any rate, I expect he will get good representation. Go PPD!!

I'm not sure that "collaborating with Paul Johnson" moves the needle in this case. Isn't Paul Johnson the DP-qualified defense atty that tends to get his clients the DP? He knows the procedure and can handle the cases - but, not sure he's exactly the guy you want if your neck is on the line. He may have saved his last one from the DP - by getting her to plead guilty.

 

[Cortne]

Lol Steve

 

[cluciano63]

I'm not sure that "collaborating with Paul Johnson" moves the needle in this case. Isn't Paul Johnson the DP-qualified defense atty that tends to get his clients the DP? He knows the procedure and can handle the cases - but, not sure he's exactly the guy you want if your neck is on the line. He may have saved his last one from the DP - by getting her to plead guilty.

Maybe sometime down the line, as in the midst of a trial that isn't going well, if the charge is death-penalty qualified...but I can't see it happening anytime before then and only if a plea is accepted in order to locate Christina. But that could be two or more years from now, Imo.

 

[Le Singe]

In cases I have seen where landfill searches were successful (Jennifer Blagg from CO is one who comes to mind, though daughter Abby was never found) police knew the suspect had used the dumpster at his work for several items as he was caught on video, therefore they had an idea of where to search, based on where the dumpsters in that area had been taken within the landfill from that day. It was all mapped out on a computer, i.e which dumpster pick-ups went where, etc. Even then, it took over six weeks of daily searching, if I remember correctly, to locate Jennifer. I really think this type of searching can only be successful when LE is almost certain a dumpster was used, and which one. To go just go in and try to search without that info would be an almost impossible task, as well as a dangerous one for searchers. It is not done lightly. I think Lori Hacking was also found this way, but with a detailed confession, and again, a known dumpster.

Jmo

and that was in grand junction colorado population 59,000ish I'll be they only have 1 landfill. Imagine here with over 6 million people in the DFW metro area and multiple landfills with multiple companies bring trash god only knows where.

I posted about a landfill search the other night where LE found a woman in a cold search (no tip or leads to say she was there). Plano PD has more money and resources than almost any department across the country and they could put together a search team with both paid and volunteer entities (all LE, S&R, etc). Jonni should be asking them repeatedly to get this done. They have had no luck finding her so far and they need to expand the search using logical conclusions instead of waiting on leads which may never come. If it takes cadaver dogs checking every dumpster within ten miles of pings that night...do it. Or dive into the dump starting with the SAL quadrant and work their way out. PPD has the resources and can get the manpower easily enough so there should be no excuses to hold off on looking for Christina Morris anywhere and everywhere, imo. No stone left unturned.

Do you know the name of that case? was it a small area. I think because of the above where they knew exactly where to using GPS and computers and it still took along time and they did not find the daughter. I think the resources required to search the landfills just looking for a cold hit would require more resources than even the Plano police have.

 

[BaeMomma]

I'm not sure that "collaborating with Paul Johnson" moves the needle in this case. Isn't Paul Johnson the DP-qualified defense atty that tends to get his clients the DP? He knows the procedure and can handle the cases - but, not sure he's exactly the guy you want if your neck is on the line. He may have saved his last one from the DP - by getting her to plead guilty.

LMAO! I laugh so hard at you sometimes....you're right! I think the PJ guy was an affiliate of Accion also.