——————————————————————————
"Charges were completely dropped against the man accused of causing the death of his live-in girlfriend's 10-month-old baby, Edward Hayes. William Jacobs, 22, was the last person to care for the baby who died after being discovered unresponsive in a Cañon City motel room where Jacobs lived with the baby and his mother, Brook Crawford, 21. According to testimony during a December 2023 preliminary hearing, Edward's head trauma was non-accidental based on the severity of the injuries and the pattern of the injuries. Jacobs' public defenders filed a motion to dismiss the case based on alleged actions on behalf of Stanley, including outrageous governmental conduct and a discovery violation. A similar motion was filed by Crawford's attorney claiming Stanley's comments in that same televised interview were "highly prejudicial." The first-degree murder case against Jacobs was dismissed."
--------------------------------------------------------------------
GIST: According to an opinion imposing sanctions by the Office of the Presiding Disciplinary Judge, disbarred District Attorney Linda Stanley exposed her subordinate lawyers to professional liability and her office to public embarrassment by not appropriately supervising her prosecution team.
Her lack of oversight also led to several cases dismissed, charges dropped and bonds reduced in the 11th Judicial District.
The Barry Morphew homicide case may have been one of the first to receive significant sanctions on Stanley's watch;
Morphew was previously charged in the death of his wife, Suzanne Morphew, after she disappeared from their Salida home in May 2020.
After a year of investigation, he was charged with her murder. Still, shortly before the trial began, his legal team discovered that the DA’s Office had not disclosed a variety of potentially exculpatory information to him and the court.
After sanctions were ordered against the prosecution, Stanley dropped Morphew's charges in April 2022, just before the case was to go to trial.
Another high-profile case affected by discovery issues on behalf of the DA's Office is the Joseph Tippet case.
Tippet, 38, was arrested on suspicion of murder in the first degree, a Class 1 felony, in connection with the death of his 72-year-old father, William Tippet, in their South Raynolds home on Jan. 6, 2023.
After several hearings on discovery violations and warnings from a district court magistrate, Tippet’s charge was reduced to second-degree murder, a Class 2 felony, as a sanction for multiple discovery failures on the part of the DA’s Office.
The Colorado Supreme Court upheld the district court's ruling by a 4-3 vote. After examining 20 of nearly 30 cases at the time, the Colorado Supreme Court found a pattern of discovery violations on behalf of the DA’s Office, including cases dating back to July 2021.
In an order granting a motion for sanctions in the Tippet case filed by District Court Judge Kaitlin Turner on April 4, 2023, Turner wrote that she took into consideration 20 cases listed by the defense whereby the DA's Office engaged in a pattern and practice of neglect and gross negligence by withholding and delaying in disclosing evidence.
Those cases involved sexual exploitation of a child, sexual assault on a child, homicide, kidnapping, sexual assault, assault, felony vehicular eluding, felony menacing and domestic violence.
Sanctions ranged from lowering a defendant's bond amount to excluding testimony. In some, the DA moved to dismiss certain charges or the entire case.\. 2, Multiple investigations into the District A
Charges were completely dropped against the man accused of causing the death of his live-in girlfriend's 10-month-old baby, Edward Hayes.
William Jacobs, 22, was the last person to care for the baby who died after being discovered unresponsive in a Cañon City motel room where Jacobs lived with the baby and his mother, Brook Crawford, 21.
According to testimony during a December 2023 preliminary hearing, Edward's head trauma was non-accidental based on the severity of the injuries and the pattern of the injuries.
Jacobs' public defenders filed a motion to dismiss the case based on alleged actions on behalf of Stanley, including outrageous governmental conduct and a discovery violation. A similar motion was filed by Crawford's attorney claiming Stanley's comments in that same televised interview were "highly prejudicial."
The first-degree murder case against Jacobs was dismissed.
Crawford’s initial felony charge of child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury was dismissed for lack of probable cause. Her other charges stemming from this case were moved to county court as Class 1 misdemeanors: child abuse and cruelty to animals/neglect.
Crawford’s motion to dismiss the charges against her, based on Stanley’s outrageous government conduct, was granted.
Two of the three felony charges filed against the Cañon City man who shot a motorist he believed to have been speeding past his house May 11 were dismissed as a sanction for discovery violations in November. Troy Richardson, 65, originally was charged with attempted second-degree murder, a Class 3 felony; first-degree assault, a Class 3 felony; and menacing, a Class 5 felony. Turner dismissed the first two charges.
A redacted Park County order filed April 25 by then-District Court Judge Amanda Hunter listed six cases where courts in the 11th had found discovery violations in the last 30 days.
In Park County, a DUI charge was dismissed as a sanction for discovery violations due to the failure to discover body-worn cameras, 911 recordings, and dispatch logs six months into the prosecution of the defendant.
In Fremont County, a discovery violation discovered by defense counsel during a sex assault trial led to the declaration of a mistrial. 1.
In Chaffee County, failure to discover a witness statement to the defense during a motion hearing resulted in a continuance of the upcoming jury trial as a sanction. The Motion notes this “came after the district attorney had represented to the Court on the record that no other statements existed….”
In Hunter's aforementioned Park County order, she reduced the maximum penalty the defendant could receive if convicted, as follows: In the first case, the maximum penalty is reduced from 32 to 16 years on count 1 (attempt to commit murder in the second degree) and on count 2 (assault in the second degree). In the defendant's second case, Hunter reduced the maximum penalty from 31 years to 16 years on counts 1 and 2 (special offender).
Jeff Lindsey was sworn in as District Attorney on Nov. 1, assuming the office after Stanley's disbarment. He has committed to upholding justice, restoring public trust and ensuring that all residents of the 11th Judicial District receive fair and equitable treatment under the law.
Lindsey has held a full-day training with the entire office and has met with support staff and attorneys to review the importance of discovery."
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/2024/12/25/no-5-story-of-2024-several-cases-dismissed-charges-dropped-bonds-reduced-during-disbarred-district-attorney-linda-stanleys-time-in-office/PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. 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.
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
———————————————————————————————
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;
—————————————————————————————————
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;