BULLETIN: Cristhian Bahena Rivera: Iowa: Setback: The Iowa Supreme Court has denied his request to review his evidence suppression claim ahead of trial, The Des Moines Register (Crime and Court reporter Anna Spoerre) reports. (No trial date set yet).

BACKGROUND: Mollie  Tibbetts was a 20-year-old University of Iowa student who disappeared while out on a jog in her hometown of Brooklyn in July of 2018.  Authorities say 24-year-old Christhian Bahena Rivera led them to the body of Mollie Tibbetts in the summer of 2018. Rivera made his first court appearance in August of 2018 -- charged with the murder of 20-year-old Tibbetts. Over the last year, Rivera's case has seen a significant amount of motions and delays, along with changes in location. In March of this year, his original trial location was moved from Poweshiek county to Woodbury county, due to pretrial publicity.

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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: "The Cristhian Bahena Rivera case has become heavily politicized, as reporter Luke Nozicka reports in The Des Moines Register, in a story headed 'Mollie Tibbett's father says daughter would not want to be face of immigration debate, published on September 1, 2018,  Spoerrewhich can be read at the link below: "After his daughter’s body was found and a man authorities say is an undocumented immigrant was charged with murder, some politicians immediately used Mollie's killing as a rallying cry for tougher immigration laws.........."After he read a guest column in the Register from Donald Trump Jr., the eldest child of President Donald Trump, Rob Tibbetts said he had to respond.  Trump Jr.'s column criticized Democrats' response to Mollie Tibbetts' killing and said the party seemed more concerned with "protecting their radical open-borders agenda than the lives of innocent Americans."  In a response published in the Register, Rob Tibbetts said his family was grateful to the politicians who heard his appeal and stopped using his daughter's death to promote agendas. But others did not, instead choosing to "callously distort and corrupt Mollie's tragic death," he said. Quoting Trump Jr.'s column, Tibbetts said it's "heartless" and "despicable."  President Trump and other politicians — including Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and both of Iowa’s Republican U.S. senators — have referenced the University of Iowa student's death to promote increased border security measures."
 https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2018/09/01/mollie-tibbetts-search-father-rob-tibbetts-illegal-immigration-cristhian-bahena-rivera-trump-jr/1171714002/

Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.

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STORY: "Supreme Court denies Bahena Rivera’s request to review his evidence suppression claim ahead of trial," by reporter Anna Spoerre, published by The Des Moines Register on February 4, 2020.

GIST: "The Iowa Supreme Court has denied a request to review evidence in the first-degree murder case for the man accused of killing University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts. The court on Tuesday denied Cristhian Bahena Rivera’s application for discretionary review and request for stay after his defense team asked the state’s highest court earlier this month to review District Judge Joel Yates' Dec. 23 decision to allow most evidence to be taken to trial, despite Bahena Rivera's arguments that most evidence should be suppressed. "We are disappointed that Justice (Edward) Mansfield declined this invitation to review these important issues at this time," defense attorney Chad Frese said Tuesday, adding that his team is reviewing their options. Attorney General spokesman Lynn Hicks said the state is pleased with the court's order. "We're ready to go," Hicks said of trial, which has not yet been rescheduled. "We could be ready as soon as the judge is."  The supreme court also denied the state's request to strike the defense's application on Tuesday. Hicks said this decision is now inconsequential because the court also denied the application in question.  Tibbetts, 20, disappeared on July 18, 2018, while on a run in her hometown of Brooklyn, Iowa. After a massive police and volunteer effort to find her, authorities say Bahena Rivera, now 25, led them to her body that Aug. 21.

Bahena Rivera's attorneys filed a motion to suppress evidence in March and again in August, requesting that the judge exclude as evidence at trial his statements and physical evidence, arguing in part that his Miranda rights were violated, that he was offered promissory leniency — a promise that something could be gained from confessing — and that he didn't consent to law enforcement searching his vehicle. Yates presided over a two-day hearing in November, during which he was tasked with deciding what evidence — including blood found in Bahena Rivera's vehicle and the location of Tibbetts' body — can be used to prosecute Bahena Rivera at trial. The judge on Dec. 23 ruled in the defense's favor that any testimonial evidence obtained between when Bahena Rivera was read his Miranda rights improperly and when he was read them properly — a period of about six hours — cannot be used at trial. However, Yates disagreed with Bahena Rivera's other claims that his rights were violated, concluding that Bahena Rivera did consent to the search of his car; that his statements were made voluntarily despite his claims of sleep deprivation and lengthy interrogation; and that law enforcement did not use language likely to induce a false confession, according to court documents."

The entire story can be read at:

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2020/02/04/iowa-supreme-court-denies-cristhian-bahena-rivera-evidence-review-mollie-tibbetts-trial-delay/4654742002/
 

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic"  section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com.  Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;

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FINAL WORD:  (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases):  "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices.""

Lawyer Radha Natarajan:

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;