PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I originally heard this post as a 'stunning' development. Slight change (on reflection). I am now calling it an 'unexpected' development.' I'm reserving 'stunning' for the possibility - perhaps remote - that the information divulged by the two 'witnesses' turns out to be true. (Which would be quite extraordinary!) No response yet from the prosecutors... Following developments with great interest.
Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
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PASSAGE ONE OF THE DAY: "According to their court filing, a person incarcerated at an unnamed Iowa correctional facility approached their prison chaplain after seeing media coverage of the Bahena Rivera trial. On the stand, Bahena Rivera testified that two masked men had abducted him and forced him to assist with the kidnapping and killing of Tibbetts. Prosecutors afterward dismissed that account as fiction, but the witness, who is not named in the motion, told prison officials he could corroborate Bahena Rivera's account. According to the witness, during a previous stay at a county jail near Poweshiek County, another inmate claimed to have been involved in Tibbetts' murder. The other inmate, identified only as "inmate 2" in court filings, said that he had seen Tibbetts bound and gagged in a "trap house" involved in the sex trade, and that he and an accomplice conspired with the owner of the house to kill Tibbetts and pin the blame on a Hispanic man." According to the witness, "inmate 2" claimed Tibbetts was to have been sex trafficked, but because of the high publicity and intense investigation into her disappearance, she was killed instead. The witness said he dismissed the other man's claims as bluster at the time until he saw Bahena Rivera's testimony and realized it fit with the story he had heard."
PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "The second new witness cited by the Freses (defence lawyers) reportedly spoke to Poweshiek County deputies later on May 26. The second witness, whom the Freses say does not know the first witness, appeared to be intoxicated but told deputies that, in the past month, they had been in a car with the man identified as "inmate 2," who had pointed a gun at his own head, saying “that Mexican shouldn’t be in jail for killing Mollie Tibbetts because I raped her and killed her.” Although prosecutors promptly disclosed the new information to the defense, Bahena Rivera had already rested his case. The new evidence, the Freses argue, "certainly" would have made a difference in the verdict."
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STORY: "In bid for new trial, Bahena Rivera's attorneys say two new witnesses have come forward to support his testimony," The Des Moines Register (Court Reporter William Morris) reports, on July 12, 2021.
GIST: "Attorneys for Cristhian Bahena Rivera, convicted in May of killing Mollie Tibbetts, a University of Iowa student from small-town Brooklyn, Iowa, are asking the court to grant him a new trial after they claim not one, but two new witnesses came forward during the trial and named another suspect in her death.
The motions for an arrest of judgment and the ordering of a new trial were filed Thursday, July 8, one week before Bahena Rivera's scheduled sentencing Thursday. Attorneys Chad and Jennifer Frese are asking the court to set aside a jury's May 28 guilty verdict after they say two people came forward hours apart on May 26 to cast doubt on Bahena Rivera's guilt.
According to their court filing, a person incarcerated at an unnamed Iowa correctional facility approached their prison chaplain after seeing media coverage of the Bahena Rivera trial. On the stand, Bahena Rivera testified that two masked men had abducted him and forced him to assist with the kidnapping and killing of Tibbetts. Prosecutors afterward dismissed that account as fiction, but the witness, who is not named in the motion, told prison officials he could corroborate Bahena Rivera's account.
According to the witness, during a previous stay at a county jail near Poweshiek County, another inmate claimed to have been involved in Tibbetts' murder. The other inmate, identified only as "inmate 2" in court filings, said that he had seen Tibbetts bound and gagged in a "trap house" involved in the sex trade, and that he and an accomplice conspired with the owner of the house to kill Tibbetts and pin the blame on a Hispanic man.
According to the witness, "inmate 2" claimed Tibbetts was to have been sex trafficked, but because of the high publicity and intense investigation into her disappearance, she was killed instead. The witness said he dismissed the other man's claims as bluster at the time until he saw Bahena Rivera's testimony and realized it fit with the story he had heard.
The second new witness cited by the Freses reportedly spoke to Poweshiek County deputies later on May 26. The second witness, whom the Freses say does not know the first witness, appeared to be intoxicated but told deputies that, in the past month, they had been in a car with the man identified as "inmate 2," who had pointed a gun at his own head, saying “that Mexican shouldn’t be in jail for killing Mollie Tibbetts because I raped her and killed her.”
Although prosecutors promptly disclosed the new information to the defense, Bahena Rivera had already rested his case. The new evidence, the Freses argue, "certainly" would have made a difference in the verdict.
"While perhaps not every bit of the account fits neatly into defendant’s account of the events, enough of the facts fit to certainly question whether the state would have been able to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt had this information been known and presented to a jury," they wrote.
The motion also requests a new trial on the basis that the court improperly instructed the jury, and claims the verdict is contrary to the weight of the evidence in the case.
Court records show prosecutors have not yet responded to the new motions. A spokesperson for the Iowa Attorney General's office, which is assisting with the prosecution, said a response would be filed "in the next day or so."
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2021/07/12/mollie-tibbetts-murder-verdict-cristhian-bahena-rivera-lawyers-new-witnesses/7941662002/
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; -----------------------------------------------------------------
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;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they’ve exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
