Suzanne Morphew and Barry Morphew appear in images distributed by the Chaffee County, Colo. Sheriff’s Office.
Just over a year after murder charges against him were dropped in his wife’s disappearance and death, Barry Morphew has filed a federal lawsuit against state investigators, FBI agents, prosecutors, and the local sheriff for “irreparably” tarnishing his “name and reputation.”
Alleging malicious prosecution, unlawful detention, fabrication of evidence, reckless investigation, failure to intervene and conspiracy, Morphew, now 55, asserts that law enforcement and prosecutors ruined his life with an affidavit filled with “falsehoods, material omissions, inaccuracies, and misleading statements” that fell far short of establishing probable cause in the alleged murder of his wife Suzanne Morphew, who vanished during a bicycle ride on Mother’s Day in 2020.
“As result of the Defendants’ conduct Barry was charged, arrested, and prosecuted, and his property seized, for a crime he did not commit,” said the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado by Fisher & Byrialsen, PLLC, Samler & Whitson, PC, and Eytan Law LLC. “As result of the Defendants’ conduct Barry spent five months in jail, approximately 6 more months wearing a GPS ankle monitor with severe restrictions on his movement, and almost a year defending against the criminal charges. To this date, Barry’s property remains in the CCSD’s possession.”
In April 2022, District Attorney Linda Stanley of the 11th Judicial District moved to toss the charges even as prosecutors claimed investigators were “close” to finding Suzanne’s body.
The nolle prosequi followed not long after “consistent” discovery violations in the case attracted the ire of District Court Judge Ramsey Lama. The “most obvious and egregious violation” of all, according to the judge, was the sudden exculpatory disclosure that unknown male DNA — which turned up in CODIS, a nationwide DNA database maintained by the FBI — was linked to sexual assaults in Chicago, Illinois, as well as in Phoenix and Tempe, Arizona. That DNA was found in Suzanne’s car. From the judge, highlighting a “negligent, bordering on reckless” pattern of discovery violations:
It is clear to this Court there is a pattern of discovery violations in this case attributable to the People . . . . The People’s first discovery and disclosure-related violations occurred on July 22, 2021 while Chief Judge Murphy was still assigned to the case. These violations continue and are ongoing. As recent as March 30, 2022 (less than one month before trial is set to begin), the Court found another Rule 16 violation related to an expert report of Doug Spence. 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.
Prior to filing the civil suit, Barry Morphew’s legal team had already filed a lengthy ethics complaint against the prosecution, including the DA, requesting discipline as severe as disbarment.
“The hidden evidence was highly exculpatory: as early as December 2020 – five months before Mr. Morphew’s arrest – the DA’s office and law enforcement learned that the unknown male DNA recovered from Suzanne’s vehicle matched that from unsolved sex offenses around the country. This highly exculpatory information was concealed, not included in the affidavit for the arrest warrant, withheld from the judge who signed the arrest warrant, and not mentioned by the prosecution in the preliminary hearings,” said the complaint.
The civil case assigns blame to even more parties, including Deputy District Attorney Jeffrey Lindsey and Deputy District Attorney Mark Hurlbert (prosecutors in the DA’s office), the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Department, Sheriff John Spezze, Detective Robin Burgess, Deputy Randy Carricato, Deputy Scott Himschoot, Sergeant Claudette Hysjulien, Sergeant William Plackner (sheriff’s office investigators), Colorado Bureau of Investigation agents John Camper, Joseph Cahill, Megan Duge, Caitlin Rogers, Derek Graham, Kevin Koback, Kirby Lewis, FBI agents Jonathan Grusing and Kenneth Harris, and 1-10 John/Jane Does.
Barry Morphew, the father to two daughters in Colorado, said his name is forever “tarnished” by claims that he killed Suzanne in a rage over her affair and wouldn’t let her leave their marriage. Barry said he’s lost his home and livelihood.
“Barry’s name and reputation has been irreparably tarnished in Colorado and all around the country,” the filing said. “Barry suffered great anguish and emotional distress, including but not limited to depression, severe anxiety, chest pain and insomnia. Barry suffered loss of familial association with his two daughters, one of which was 17-years-old when he was arrested and jailed. Barry suffered great economic losses as a result of Defendants’ actions, including the loss of his home, business, savings and much more.”
In May 2022, Barry Morphew told ABC News that he loves his daughters and wife.
“I just love my girls, and I love my wife,” he said. “And I just want her to be found.”
His daughters Mallory and Macy stood by him.
“We just know our dad better than anyone else and we know he was not involved in our mom’s disappearance,” Mallory Morphew said as her sister Macy nodded. “These last few years have been the most painful thing that we’ve ever experienced.”
“We just miss our mom so much and we want her to be found,” she added.
Macy hoped that the DA would “step up to the plate and do everything she can to find our mom because what they’ve done is not fair and we’re never going to stop looking for our mom.”
The 12-count civil rights complaint seeks a jury trial, at least $15,000,000 in damages, attorneys’ fees and costs, the release of his property from law enforcement, and an order requiring the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Department to train and oversee personnel “so as to prevent similar decisions being made in the future that results in the violations of individuals’ constitutional rights and conspiracies to do so.”
Read the 185-page complaint and the charging affidavit, including exhibits, here.
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