Newsroom Nitwits
One thing is certain about a high profile criminal case. Reporters will revel in disturbing revelations and emotional statements. The reporters of news will present mainly detrimental information about the accused. These journalists will act as public relations for police and prosecutor.
On 5 November, 2008, an eight‑year old boy found the body of his father in his home and the body of a boarder in the front of his home. The child returned home about 5:00 P.M. The following day, the child was arrested for two counts of first degree premeditated murder after a coerced confession obtained by St. Johns Detective Debbie Neckel and Apache County Sheriff’s Commander Matrese (aka Matt, aka Therese) Avila.
When Roy Melnick, police chief in St. Johns Arizona, announced that he nabbed this eight‑year‑old cold blooded killer, the news organizations went into their rumor monger mode. Apache County Attorney Criss Candelaria wasted little time making selected material available to news organizations.
Soon after, on a Good Morning America segment, News Anchor Chris Cuomo played a portion of the coerced confession without questioning the methods or results. Cuomo specifically stated that the child appeared to blame someone else. The child had stated that there were some bad people in the neighborhood as an example of what a bad person was. These people smoked and talked loudly. But, Cuomo left out the part where the child said he didn’t think or didn’t know that these people were the perpetrators. The statement about the bad people was not close to an accusation. It was simply an aside. His idea of bad persons did not include murderers.
Cuomo also omitted the consistent statements that the boy made that the victims were already down when he found them and his insistence that he didn’t shoot a gun. His statements of “I think I might have…” were the result of Commander Avila insisting that he had fired a gun. It seems that Cuomo either didn’t do in depth research or was proceeding from supplied talking points.
It is no secret that police and prosecution use gullible news people (as well as the public) to undermine the accused. I would not be surprised if the prosecution submitted pointers along with information. It is also clear that reporters prefer shocking even if that means ignoring information with a better factual basis.
Arizona television stations demonstrated that ability with their newscasts on 6 February, 2009.
On 6 February, 2009 KPNX anchor, Lin Sue Cooley, started a segment with “Disturbing new details …” Television news people love those words and use them whenever possible.
Reporter Veronica Sanchez then launched a series of inflammatory claims as if they were truth. Sanchez referenced a document released by the Apache County Attorney’s office (the report).* The report contains a series of interviews and investigations by the Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS). The DPS involvement was started on 16 November, 2008. This was after Candelaria released documents and recording attempting to publicly undermine the child‑suspect. Candelaria and the St. Johns Police Department placed their request on 14 November, 2008.
She said the documents “showed a volatile relationship between father and son,” and claimed there were “so many red flags.”
Sanchez claimed that a family friend told police that the friend saw the child attempting to drown his half‑sister. What the DPS report revealed was that the person who reported this claim was two persons removed from the alleged source. The result of the interview was not revealed in the CPS report. The person lived in California, and the telephone interview took five minutes. While DPS personnel publicized the allegation, they did not give the result of the interview. The former husband of the child’s mother stated in the CPS release that the boy loved his sister.
Reporter Sanchez alleged that a friend of the child told a school bus driver that the child said, “I’m going to shoot my father.” But, the friend denied the incident as was noted in the report. The claim came from a school bus driver who did not act on the alleged statement. The same school bus driver claimed that her friend had been present when the child confessed committing the crime to his grandmother. This may have stemmed from a statement that the child made that his father didn’t suffer because he had been shot in the chest. There were no chest wounds in his father.
Sanchez stated that a neighbor saw the child playing with his dog moments after the shots were fired. There were two mentions of this neighbor in the report.
On page 420 of the report, DPS Sergeant Cates wrote that “following a neighborhood canvass, Rodriguez (St. Johns PD) learned a neighbor, …” gave information including a sound of pops and a couple minutes later seeing the child in the front dog, “play with his dog,” and then walk South. He said he saw the two victims drive up about 5:00 P.M.
On page 422 of the report, the neighbor was directly interviewed by DPS Detective Andrew Barmore. The neighbor stated he saw the boy standing with the dog about two minutes after the pops before walking West. He said heard the pops four to five minutes after the men arrived.
Rodriguez made no mention of this in his report, Incident Report #1. But Chief Roy Melnick made a record when he interviewed this neighbor on the day of the murders. A handwritten statement by the witness was that he heard shots about 5:00 P.M. that sounded like a paintball gun. The witness stated he didn’t hear anything else or “see anyone drive away or anything.”
The problem here is seeing the child without noting the body at the front of the child’s home. The statement closest to the event is the most likely to be accurate.
Sanchez also quoted the report saying a witness heard the boy tell his father, “One day I’m going to kill you,” and the father slapped the son. This was taken from page 402 of the report. None of the witness interviews produced a verification. A cousin said that he heard the child tell his father, “I’ll shoot you,” or “I’ll kill you,” during a game of horseshoes. There was no face slapping
The KPNX reporter went on to say that a little boy’s underwear with blood stains was found by family friends several days after the murders. This is important for the prosecution because they claim there was abuse that drove the child to premeditated murder. The only problem is that the underwear did not test positive for blood. A lab report dated 26 November, 2008 clears both the belatedly found pair and the original pair of children’s underwear, taken as evidence from the child’s bedroom, from evidence of blood.
One crew sock that was found by the friends did preliminarily test positive for blood, but that blood has not yet been matched to an individual. First, a presumptive test must be administered. The friend threw the items in the trash and police had to recover the items from the trash. Any evidence recovered would be useless.
The reporter missed that the DPS was called in on 14 November, 2008, long after the Chief of Police declared the crime solved. The reporter was too busy undermining the suspect, and she failed to notice the inclusion of another 22 caliber bolt action rifle, and several containers of 22 caliber ammunition collected as evidence.
Detective Debbie Neckel testified at a discovery hearing on 25 November 2008 that the Chipmunk youth rifle, was the only 22 caliber weapon in the home, and no other 22 caliber ammunition was present (ironically the extra rifle and ammunition were listed as evidence on 17 November, 2008 and Neckel was listed as case officer).
Sergeant Lucas Rodriguez testified at the detention hearing on 7 November, 2008 testified that the Chipmunk youth rifle was the only 22 caliber weapon found in the home. When DPS Sergeant Jennifer Pinnow asked the widow about ammunition, she showed DPS investigators the locations.
There are things in the DPS report which are truly disturbing.
What is disturbing is that the report showed the discovery of brownish‑red stains on the wall of the child’s bedroom, the upstairs hall, and the stairway that had not been tested. The stains were finally tested and cleared on 17 November, 2008.
What is disturbing is false testimony by the lead officers about weapons and ammunition.
What is disturbing is the fact that many parents distrusted the police interviewing their children. This is a direct result of Criss Candelaria’s grandstanding and undermining.
What is disturbing that the police and prosecution requested the Department of Public Safety assistance over a week after they declared the crime solved.
I hope that future television reporters can perform a detailed analysis of documents rather that rely on the prosecutor talking points.
* CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION, DR #2008‑062500, SAINT JOHNS POLICE DEPARTMENT, FIRST DEGREE MURDER (2), COMPILED BY: THE ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT, DETECTIVE DAVID CATES, #6044
by Brian McCorkle
in category St. Johns Arizona Double Homicide
