Barry Morphew speaks to the media after charges against him were dismissed. (Va ABC News screengrab)
The attorney representing a Colorado man once accused of his wife’s disappearance and murder wants the district attorney and prosecutors who targeted him investigated for ethical violations.
Barry Morphew’s wife, Suzanne Morphew, disappeared during a bicycle ride on Mother’s Day in 2020. She has not been seen or heard from since. Her husband was arrested in May 2021 on charges related to her presumed death, including murder in the first degree, tampering with evidence, and attempting to influence a public servant.
Last April, the judge overseeing the case dropped the case against Barry Morphew – at prosecutors’ request – even as law enforcement claimed then that they were “close” to finding her body.
That apparently wasn’t true – and several other issues with the Morphew investigation occurred throughout the process leading up to the dismissal of the charges against her husband.
More Law&Crime coverage: ‘I Love My Wife, and I Want Her to Be Found’: Colorado Husband Barry Morphew Speaks Out After State Drops Murder Case Against Him
On March 29, Morphew’s attorney, Iris Eytan, filed an 83-page complaint with the Colorado Office of Attorney Regulation asking for 11th Judicial District Attorney Linda Stanley and the other prosecutors who worked on her client’s case to be investigated and, ultimately, punished.
“Instead of abiding by their special prosecutorial ethical obligations to protect the presumption of innocence and to preserve and enhance the integrity and high standards of the bar, these prosecutors exhibited untrustworthiness and pursued a political agenda of locking up Mr. Morphew in response to a media frenzy that the prosecutors themselves helped create and perpetuate,” the filing alleges.
According to the disciplinary complaint, the DA’s office “excused any evidence of innocence, concealed favorable evidence, manufactured evidence and opinions, and allowed witnesses to testify falsely.”
“The Judges overseeing the case identified the prosecutors’ numerous blatant violations of court orders and discovery rules, including providing false information to the Court,” the complaint goes on. “After numerous court admonitions spanning nine months, the prosecution did nothing to correct, remediate, or alter its conduct.”
Earlier last April, despite scolding prosecutors and other law enforcement for “consistent” discovery violations, District Court Judge Ramsey Lama declined to dismiss the case on the defense’s request.
But, in a lengthy, 20-page document upbraiding the prosecution, the judge noted that highly pertinent DNA evidence had essentially been hidden from the defense and during various court hearings.
That DNA, as it turned out, belonged to an unknown male, was definitively not Barry Morphew’s, and had been found on multiple items at the crime scene – including on Suzanne Morphew’s bike, bike helmet, and inside of her car, according to state crime lab forensic analysis, Lama noted.
Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Agent Joseph Cahill believed the DNA found in the car “belonged to suspects who may have perpetrated the crime,” the judge noted. On top of that, the DNA turned up in CODIS, a nationwide DNA database maintained by the FBI.
“Notably, as of May 4, 2021, law enforcement had still not determined the source of the unknown male DNA found throughout the crime scene,” Lama wrote. “The Affidavit failed to inform the judge of said DNA and that Barry Morphew was excluded as the source.”
From the complaint, at length:
The truth about the DNA evidence was revealed only after numerous hearings and orders of the court to turn over favorable evidence to the defense. The evidence that had been hidden by the prosecutors prior to the preliminary hearings slowly trickled out over the next few months, after the critical preliminary hearings and after Mr. Morphew was locked in a jail cell for five months. 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.
The document also claims that prosecutors uttered “falsehoods” that “became the legend and lore of the case,” prompting law enforcement to dig into theories they knew were wrong.
And the document asserts that the DA’s office did all of this willingly.
“[T]he real threat to the public remains as long as they are able to continue the practice of law without any significant discipline,” the complaint says. “This is not a series of oopsies or mistakes; there were too many not to be intentional, willful, and/or a knowing pattern of discovery and ethical violations. These prosecutors still believe they have done nothing wrong. They will continue to violate their ethical obligations, harm other people, until and unless the [Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel] disciplines them.”
The filing advises investigators to “harshly” discipline the law enforcement involved in the Morphew case.
“It is our belief that there is absolute proof that the elected District Attorney, Linda Stanley, her then-Chief DA Investigator Alex Walker, Chief Deputy DA Jeffrey Lindsey, Aaron Pembleton and all the deputies who were subsequently hired or contracted to engage in the prosecution of this case (including Deputy District Attorneys Mark Hurlbert, Robert Weiner, Daniel Edwards, and Grant Grosgebauer) committed ethical violations justifying severe discipline and disbarment,” the filing alleges. “This type of unethical conduct cannot stand to go unpunished in this State or Country.”
On Tuesday, Eytan held a press conference, criticizing the prosecutors in the case in ever harsher terms.
“He was held for five months in a cage based on information that wasn’t true,” Eytan said. “She has a license to practice law more powerful than most other individuals in the country, she should have to answer for that. So yes, I don’t believe she should have a right to prosecute other human beings.”
In response, Stanley complained that Eytan held a press conference before her office received notice of the complaint.
“All individuals, whether facing a potential complaint against their professional license or facing criminal charges, are entitled to due process,” the DA told Denver-based Fox affiliate KDVR. “Because we have no information on the complaint alleged by Ms. Eytan, we cannot comment at this time.”
However, Jessica Yates, the executive director for the OARC, told KDVR that her office received the complaint and would investigate it.
Stanley has been disciplined before.
In 2019, she was censured for failing to keep a client reasonably informed while in private practice during a civil case.
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