Former AG Tom Horne Did Right By Debra Milke

Former Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne

Phoenix, AZ—When the 9^th Circuit US Court of Appeals orderd a new trial for Debra Milke it set in motion her being cleared and freed. 

Former Attorney General Tom Horne quickly and very publicly vowed to appeal that ruling boasting he’d personally argue the case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

After Horne's stepping out on a limb with his promise to appeal the case something amazing happened.  Horne acted on a constituent’s (someone I know really well) request to take a very careful second look at that case.  He did and everything suddenly changed.  Horne  waived appealing the case sending it immediately to Maricopa County for a retrial. 

Had Horne appealed the case Debra Milke would have languished another two to three years on Death Row.  Milke would have rotted there while the United States Supreme Court wrestled with a Petition for Review. 

This Monday morning at 8:30 AM Judge Rosa Mroz will hold court for the last time on the Debra Milke Case.  She will dismiss the case with prejudice and exonerate the quarter of a million dollar bail bond that kept Milke free for well over a year.  Milke will be free and have no criminal history record.  

Horne risked the wrath of Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery and those whose support he needed during his most difficult political time.  This ended his political career.  Horne let his conscience and heart decide the direction he’d take with Milke.

Horne quietly dropped the appeal in the interest of justice.  It’s not often that a politician will simply do the right thing risking it all. 

Tom Horne is an unsung hero here and will always have a special place in my heart for being gallant while under fire.   

Debra Milke has a lot of people to thank for intervening, advocating on her behalf and ultimately getting not only her life spared but getting her cleared of this crime.  

There are those that contributed money for Milke’s legal defense or others that kept her comforted and sane with many letters while she languished in the worst possible place. 

Debra Milke lost the very best part of her life and nobody can return that to her.  She did not deserve the real life horror story she lived. 

Horrible people caused Milke’s troubles and in the end it was the kind and generous people helped her.  The whole thing should never have happened.

It was James Styers and Roger Scott alone that murdered Milke's child who would be turning 30 soon if he was still alive.  We will never know what Christopher Milke’s contribution to this world might have been.   Perhaps that was even a bigger loss to Milke than her freedom.  Now Milke can mourn that loss. 

I don’t know what Milke’s plans are now but the choice is hers alone.  She needs to make up for lost time and do it all on her terms.  She needs to avoid negativity now more than ever.

Maricopa County should quickly come to terms with the lawsuit filed by Milke’s lawyers last Friday afternoon. 

Litigating their massive and cruel  blunders for years will be throwing good taxpayer money after bad.  Give this woman the many millions she deserves and deal with those cops and prosecutors that lie, cheat and steal the lives of innocent people.

Christopher Milke has no grave but this is where he perished.  I shot this video from my camera drone last summer:

Jodi Arias Has Been Spared From Death But this Case is Far From Over!

Phoenix, AZ—The penalty phase of the Jodi Arias ended when jurors could not arrive at a unanimous verdict and any and all hope of putting Arias to death is over. 

The Alexander family members present were observed both angry and weeping which does not speak well for their character or humanity.   They only sought revenge, pure and simple. Even the execution of an accused never brings satisfaction or closure for those close to the decedent. 

Had Arias received a death penalty it would be decades before it,  if ever was carried out. 

This case at best was an obvious manslaughter case at best and Arias already served the maximum incarceration time prescribed by Arizona law.

The emotion and rage involved in the altercation was best displayed in the remains of Travis Alexander. The amount of wounds most of them superficial indicated there was an epic fight between Alexander and his killer.

The issue of the actual trial that was by far the worst example of a media circus I’ve seen in my four decade career in crime,courts and justice.  

The actions of the Mesa police homicide detective and prosecutor were lawless, vicious and contrary to a civilized society.  Now the higher courts will now be trying their actions and  this murder conviction is and should be in serious jeopardy.

Evidence tampering, perjury, witness tampering will be examined and I suspect there is more than sufficient reason to reverse the conviction and send Arias home. 

This is a tragic case for the Alexander family and that of Arias.  No court proceeding or penalty can bring Travis Alexander back to life.  I think everyone involved can agree that this homicide should have never happened.  It did, and Jodi Arias who had no previous history of crime of violence deserved the full benefit of the doubt.

Arias lied to police but is that somehow unusual for a human being under the stress of investigation for a capital crime?  Most people can’t tell the truth on why they were late for work in the morning.

As for the blood thirsty thugs that wanted to and still want to lynch Arias, I have nothing but contempt.  Those people are in serious need of mental health treatment.  That goes double for those that have never met Travis Alexander.

Jodi Arias Freed by Police Perjury, Evidence and Witness Tampering!

Phoenix, AZ—Okay I’m jaded.  I have investigated so many high profile cases over the decades and have learned one sad thing about them.  Integrity among witnesses, cops and prosecutors quickly vanishes.

Being a criminal defense investigator is not like what most people think or understand.  While investigating these cases I soon found myself trapped in a world of lies.  If I can expose the lies my client often goes free! Because of bizarre dynamics, this is anything but an easy task.

Let’s begin with a personal statistic I’ve established about my fellow humans.  A full one-third or more of people routinely lie.  As we know most people in fact can’t seem to tell the truth about something as simple why they’re late for work. 

If this percentage of people can achieve the same result by lying as telling the truth they will choose to deceive.  It’s best described as a form of narcissism or self-empowerment. 

In high profile cases deception is the rule, not the exception!  People lie from every possible side of a case skewing justice along the way!

Whether or not the accused is guilty, those arrested lie most of the time.  They think that lies will help them and they are desperate.  Their friends and family members that find themselves as defense witnesses want to help so they lie too.

For the cops interviewing those people separately, they can easily expose this deception.  Lies told by suspects and their family or friends will nearly always destroy any chance of escaping even an unjust conviction.

Unfortunately many cops have a terrible habit of guessing culpability first and then creating, shaping or forming the evidence to convict those they believe are guilty. 

The best example I can cite here is O.J. Simpson.  The case appeared weak and cops went about to frame a guilty man.  However in the end they got caught and Simpson was freed.    

Cops are in the unique position to remove, move or add physical evidences including DNA to any crime scene.  When they subsequently serve search warrants more opportunities are presented to place damning evidence inside the homes, offices or vehicles of the accused.

Motives for this behavior include seeking professional recognition, fame, or simply being driven to nail the coffin lids on the people they arrest.  Let me say that the percentages of this happening are so much higher than you would ever dare imagine.

We all have made ourselves believe that cops and prosecutors wear the white hats.  After all they are the good guys who can always be trusted never to mislead you, right? 

Ego’s, self-image issues and narcissism are no strangers to cops and prosecutors.  They love the attention they get by publicly demonizing some hapless perceived miscreant.

In high profile cases this begins at press conferences where cops and prosecutors pat each other on the back for the important arrest.  Thus the demonization of the accused begins and the defense is never able to challenge this with equal time. 

By the time the defense discovers any solid evidence they are subject to gag orders by the judges on the case!  Prosecutors often deliberately cross the line so that gag orders are issued.  That in effect insures the public will only hear one side of the case!

Once they bring in the TV cameras inside the courtrooms that suddenly guarantees that lies will become the new truth!  Bad behavior and deception go into high gear! 

Savvy cops know how to play the civilian witnesses by making them feel important.  The cops want to hear only the things that will bolster their cases.  So it’s very easy to ask questions that provide the answers they want to hear the witnesses repeat! 

This often begins with the first eyewitness identifications.  The witness was either a victim and saw a violent crime committed by a stranger.  Their eyes were fixed on weapons, the hands and shocking deeds of the perpetrator/s.

Soon a cop brings a suspect to the witness in a police car.  The witness assumes that the cop somehow found the right person and they want to help the cops. 

What happens next is horrible.  The witness will more than likely identify whomever the cops have brought! After all the witness wants to help the cops whether they recognize the suspect or not.

Identifications made outside of a proper line up suck in a big way.  The so-called, one-on-one identification method is excessively subjective and should be outlawed. 

A high percentage of people will exaggerate or outright lie if they think it will help the police take a criminal off of our streets.  Once the useful idiot/witness gets praise and recognition he or she will become locked into the lie forever. 

Thankfully the mass proliferation of surveillance cameras has stopped many false identification cases cold before they got out of hand.  

With the limelight of TV cameras, and recognition from the likes of TV commentators such as Nancy Grace witnesses abandon the truth and instead gravitate to what’s seems popular at the moment.  

It’s exactly like the intuitive Dr. Josef Goebbels infamously said, “If you tell a lie often enough, it becomes the truth.”  The media can be counted on to repeat each and every lie until they are set in stone!

When you allow a murder trial like the Jodi Arias case to become a media circus only bad things will happen.    

Today with the Internet and our instant communication keeping a jury away from sensational influence outside of the courtroom is impossible. 

Guilt or innocence is established by a lot of things in America.  Unfortunately too often the truth does not really matter.

This all takes me to my personal motto about the criminal justice system, “If justice happens it’s usually by accident and for all the wrong reasons.”

Jodi Arias Is A Free Woman!

Phoenix, AZ—The defense in the Jodi Arias case has filed a Poison Pill Motion that will end the prosecution of Arias.  She will be set free without as much as a jaywalking conviction!

According to the motion the computer belonging to Travis Alexander, while in police custody was tampered with.   Thousands of pornographic files were deleted in a very serious case of evidence tampering.

Arias claimed under oath during her trial that she discovered Alexander masturbating while looking at porn images of little boys.  Prosecutor Juan Martinez had repeatedly ridiculed Arias in arguments as a liar saying she made that up. 

This is bad as prosecutorial misconduct can get.  There is no other legal remedy now but to send Arias home.

I don’t anticipate Arias being held in custody beyond a week or two under the cataclysmic circumstances.

What remains are the federal and local investigations into the evidence tampering, violation of civil rights and obstruction of justice by cops and perhaps a prosecutor. 

As for the legions of trial watching trolls that demanded the death penalty for Arias emotional meltdowns are on the way!

Nancy Grace had better get some better medication from her shrink because this news will make her head explode!

I predicted this outcome long ago and it comes as no surprise to me.  I was criticized, condemned and castigated for telling it the way it was. 

As for Jodi Arias, I wish her luck and hope she makes good use of the life that’s being returned to her! 

Read Motion Below:

  Arias Motion to Dismiss Evidence Tampering

Arias Trial is Void Because the Government Facilitated Witness Tampering on a Grand Scale.

Judge Sherry Stephens and Prosecutor Juan Martinez 

Phoenix, AZ—Let me begin by saying I’m not now nor have I ever been retained as the defense investigator for Jodi Arias.  I’m not her friend or one of her supporters. 

I have however been greatly alarmed by the conduct involved with her journey through the Arizona criminal justice system. How the Arias case became such a high profile circus defies all logic.

This was a no more than passionate event of one lover killing another.  This is not really unusual as homicides go.  

How this became a Capital First Degree Murder Case makes no sense to me at all.  Had there been financial gain involved I may have supported a murder charge.

Arias has already been behind bars for over six years and has served adequate time for a more realistic crime such as Manslaughter. 

She’s been convicted of Capital Murder and now a second jury is going to be wangling with her punishment.  We now know that any attempt at fairness of her murder trial and sentencing phase has been terminally compromised

The prosecution and trial of Arias before Judge Sherry Stephens, was nothing less than a judicial nightmare.  The prosecutor Juan Martinez has substantially lowered the acceptable prosecutor's behavior bar and Judge Stephens has miserably failed to rein him in.   

Judge Stephens succeeded in raising her own celebrity star along with Martinez by making sure national TV cameras were unobstructed as they mugged for them.

The media circus created one more unintended monster; legions of pathetic trolls that formed a media fueled lynch mob.  The results were constant death threats to each and every witness that was called by the Arias defense.  Undoubtedly that influenced testimony and perhaps caused defense witnesses to restrain their testimony or refuse to cooperation.  

The threats were discussed today before the Arizona Court of Appeals and they are the apparent reason Judge Stephens has sealed the courtroom.  This sudden attempt to deal with this mess all comes too little and too late.

The decision to allow cameras into courtrooms for live and contemporaneous broadcast was a bad one.  Video is fine as long as it is broadcast or otherwise published after the trial is concluded.

Too many things and do go wrong including the now apparent unbridled witness tampering in the Arias proceedings.

Arizona has now more than adequately demonstrated that protecting Arias’ rights became impossible.  This cannot be somehow cured or remedied now.  Now there is only one fair thing to do and that’s to cut the losses and free Arias. 

There is a valuable less here for future trials.