Not Guilty / Complete Acquittal at Jury Trial | Felony First Degree Murder Dangerous (with Gun), and Felony Conspiracy to Commit First Degree Murder
State v. Mr. M (DMC No. 16919)
DEC 13, 2021 – MARICOPA COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT (CASE NO. CR2017-001803)
Mr. M was a City of Phoenix employee and military veteran who met Ms. P, and learned that she was in an abusive relationship with her soon-to-be ex-husband. Mr. M and Ms. P eventually became romantically involved with each other, and Mr. M’s ex-girlfriend became aware of this relationship and became extremely jealous. What ultimately occurred was that Mr. M had to use deadly force in order to protect himself from the ex-husband, which resulted in Mr. M and Ms. P both being charged with Conspiracy to Commit First Degree Murder and First Degree Murder. The genesis of the confrontation between the ex-husband and Mr. M occurred because of Mr. M’s ex-girlfriend.
The entire incident actually spanned the course of four days. On day number one, the ex-girlfriend contacted Ms. P and threatened to reveal the relationship with Mr. M to her ex-husband. Ms. P and Mr. M both begged the ex-girlfriend not to tell the ex-husband of the affair. The ex-girlfriend confirmed that she had broken into Mr. M’s house and taken one of his cell phones and that’s how she discovered the affair. Mr. M then reported the Burglary and Theft to the Phoenix Police Department, yet nothing was done by the police.
On day three, Mr. M and his ex-girlfriend argued about whether their child in common was actually Mr. M’s. Mr. M wanted the child to have a DNA test performed. Within minutes of the phone call, the ex-girlfriend began searching online on “how to get revenge on a baby daddy.”
On day four, beginning in the early morning, the ex-girlfriend began calling the ex-husband, and revealed that Ms. P and Mr. M were having an affair. There were numerous calls and texts between the ex-girlfriend and the ex-husband throughout the day. The ex-girlfriend also contacted Mr. M and told him what she was doing. The ex-husband then contacted Ms. P and became very abusive and threatening. At some point during that day, the ex-girlfriend took a photo of Mr. M’s truck, which included his license plate. This photo was in front of Mr. M’s house, and she sent all of the truck and location information to the ex-husband.
When Mr. M and Ms. P had heard about everything that was going on that day, they then went to the police station and waited for an hour and a half in order to file an Order of Protection. The Police had indicated it was too late to get an Order of Protection, and they also stated that since Mr. M filed the previous police report regarding the Burglary and Theft of the cell phone, they had to wait for those original Police Officers to contact him. Mr. M and Ms. P then made phone calls to the original reporting Detectives while they were in the police station. Eventually, they were told nothing could be done that night and they were sent home.
Once they arrived at Mr. M’s house, Ms. P was very scared and nervous, so she took Mr. M’s truck and went to a friend’s house about a mile away. At some point after that, the ex-husband arrived in front of Mr. M’s house, and only saw his ex-wife’s car sitting in the driveway. He then grabbed a knife and went inside of Mr. M’s house. When Mr. M discovered him inside of his living room, Mr. M immediately drew his sidearm – which he was wearing for self-protection due to the day’s events – and he fired multiple times, killing the ex-husband. When the police arrived, they determined that the entire event was self-defense, and Mr. M was not arrested or charged.
The ex-husband’s family ended up hiring a Private Investigator who was a former Phoenix Police Detective, and he floated a theory that Ms. P had actually shot the ex-husband, and that Mr. M had then planted the knife near his body. The family then secured a Private Attorney who was well connected with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, who then pressed them into securing an Indictment. Initially, Mr. M was only Indicted with Tampering with Evidence, and the Prosecutor wanted him to plea to Probation with zero days in jail, as long as he would testify against Ms. P. Our Firm was then retained on the case, and we explained to the Prosecutor that Mr. M was absolutely innocent, and that he had only defended himself. The Prosecutor then went back and re-indicted Mr. M on Conspiracy to Commit First Degree Murder and First Degree Murder. They were attempting to pressure Mr. M into testifying against Ms. P. Due to this outrageous conduct, we prepared vigorously for Jury Trial, and Mr. M never entertained the idea of pleading to any crime.
At Jury Trial, the Prosecutor attempted to utilize evidence of cell phone towers, claiming that Ms. P was actually at the scene when the shooting had occurred. The Detective specifically left out evidence of the first and last calls in the cell phone tower records, which clearly showed Ms. P was over a mile away at the time of the shooting. They also did not realize that their data contained information that the ex-girlfriend had Googled “how to get revenge on your baby daddy” on the morning prior to the shooting. During Trial, the ex-girlfriend got on the stand and came off as vengeful, dishonest, and spiteful. After a six-week trial, the Jury deliberated less than three hours, and returned verdicts of Not Guilty against both Mr. M and Ms. P. After the verdicts were read, many of the jurors remained and stated to the Prosecutor and to us, that the ex-girlfriend should have been charged with Burglary, Theft and whatever crime would hold her responsible for the ex-husband’s death. If we had not secured the Not Guilty verdict at Trial, Mr. M and Ms. P would have spent the rest of their natural lives in prison. However, once they were found Not Guilty, they were allowed to go on with their lives and raise their five children that they now have as a blended family.
