COLORADO SPRINGS — In response to a motion by prosecutors to dismiss Barry Morphew’s murder trial, a judge declined the request.
Morphew is facing charges for the murder of his wife, Suzanne, on Mother’s Day Weekend of 2020.
A court document released Friday read, in part: “The court concludes additional sanctions are not appropriate at this time. However this Order will serve as the baseline for future orders related to discovery violations.”
At issue, Morphew’s attorneys argued, were false claims of murder, confessions and documentation.
“There is no evidence of a murder,” Morphew’s attorneys wrote. “And certainly no evidence that Mr. Morphew committed a murder. It has been well established and confessed by the prosecution that there is no body, no confession, no eyewitness testimony, or physical evidence that Ms. Morphew is dead, was murdered, or that Mr. Morphew is responsible.”
Morphew’s attorneys have also said the defense did not receive all the discovery from prosecutors – and – that the discovery that has been provided has contained”untrue statements” — specifically statements and opinions from:
Expert in Telematics Kenneth HicksForensic Computer/Data Analysis Expert James StevensExpert in Cell Phone Tracking and Historical Call Data Analysis Kevin Hoyland
The court found the following in its investigation of this motion:
“Over the last eight months and over multiple days of hearings, the Court has
witnessed a pattern of disregard by the People towards its Rule 16 obligations, the Court’s Case
Management Order, and subsequent Court disclosure-related orders made on the record. This
Court has repeatedly noted it does not, in any way, condone the People’s behavior. The behavior
has, in the Court’s eyes, been recognizably consistent. While the Court, for the reasons stated
below, does not find this pattern willful based on the record, the Court does find this pattern to be
negligent, bordering on, reckless.”
Still, the court ruled, it did not find the People’s actions amounted to willfulness.
>> Read the reasoning behind the court’s decision here
Morphew has maintained his innocence throughout this process.
A jury trial is scheduled to begin April 28, 2022.
