Expressions of Morgan

‘Law and Order’ is such a simple phrase, that means so very much when you find yourself a victim.  Law is the premise, the nucleus, that brings order.  Law is dynamic, very dynamic I’m finding this as I read the Colorado Revised Statutes with all of the year specific repeals, and additions.  Keeping pace with the ever altering landscape that is our lives is graphically displayed.  How one single word changes everything is just as amazing to me.

In Morgan’s case I am troubled to no end, because laws existed, but were not enforced, or maybe brought into play is a better way to think of it.  For example part of a Colorado Revised Statute (or C.R.S.) says:

The general assembly hereby recognizes the seriousness posed by stalking and adopts the provisions of this part 6 with the goal of encouraging and authorizing effective intervention before stalking can escalate into behavior that has even more serious consequences.

Then we had a Sheriff, under whom’s direction, his department assigns a Detective on day 58 of Morgan’s Stalking.  Effective Intervention?  58 days?  What do you think?  And remember Deputies did respond during the 58 days before, but, no sirens, no blinking lights, they can’t collect fingerprints, cast shoe prints or effectively collect evidence, the case has no case number, because it has not opened yet, and as I’m also finding, record keeping is completely shaky at the very best.  The responding Deputies also told me that this was Colorado Law,  I haven’t been able to find the law they talked about, but as you can see the one I did find is quite the opposite.  And that the stalking did in fact “escalate into behavior that had even more serious consequences”, is without question.

And it was not just the nearly 60 days or two months of living hell before there was a Detective, and a case number, along with the hope of a forthcoming plan to catch the stalker(s), and bring about an end to the ensuing nightmare.  It was also that once assigned, our detective had to justify the amount of time he spent on Morgan’s case.  “Higher ups” within the Sheriff’s department saw fit to allow an hour or two here or there.  Was he assigned to Morgan’s case only to have his hands tied?

Our felony stalking detective was angling for an extra hour or two to work her case, and now Morgan is dead, killed by her stalker.  Doesn’t seem right to me in any way, shape or manner, and I suppose it never will.  How could it?  In the name of Morgan having every dream she ever had yet to realize taken from her, the stalking case deserved the number of hours it took to solve it.  Not the best that can be done in an hour or two a week.  And if that is not enough, “oh well”, that’s the best we could do.  We all know how that worked out for Morgan.

Another section of the same law on stalking that I found to be right to the point, especially in Morgan’s case is:

Because stalking involves highly inappropriate intensity, persistence, and possessiveness, it entails great unpredictability and creates great stress and fear for the victim

Morgan was stressed, and she was in fear.  She also had little hope for the simple pleasures in life, like a “good nights sleep”.  The Colorado General Assembly, which drafted and passed the laws on stalking obviously got it.  If you want you can read the entire text of the C.R.S. that was law during Morgan’s stalking here it is, STALKING LAW.

The General Assembly deserves kudos for understanding the evil serpent so well, and drafting an effective response.  I don’t believe the Sheriff got it… at all.  The response that is spelled out in the Colorado Revised Statutes for stalking never arrived for Morgan.  For the sake of all the victims of stalking,  I sincerely hope that changes in the future.  Morgan’s stalker(s) are still running free.

And often I have spoken of another Colorado organization – the CBI, or Colorado Bureau or Investigation.  The big guns of law enforcement here in this state.  Many have pointed to the need for a “microscopic” investigation of an unattended death under suspicious circumstances as Morgan’s was.  The CBI could have been and should have been called in the morning we found Morgan dead, but it would have been the Sheriff’s call and they did not make it.  That would have given Morgan a proper investigation instead of the, “so thoroughly botched,” investigation that unfortunately Morgan did have.

I bring this up because, just recently right here in the Roaring Fork Valley, the body of a man was found in an irrigation ditch, deceased.  Only he was not found in Garfield County, he was found in Pitkin County.  Different County, different Sheriff, and fact is that the protocol there for an unattended death under suspicious circumstances was to immediately call in the CBI, that’s why we have the CBI is my understanding, not just for deaths, but any investigation that is beyond that capabilities of a smaller Sheriff’s department.  The CBI responded, was there within a few hours, and evidently evidence was actually found quite a distance from the death scene, and collected, to be processed.

There is a difference between that, and reading Morgan’s texts, and a old journal from her room.  But her PJ’s she wore to bed the night before, completely missing, her panic button gone from its mount, her body posed, redressed, none of that mattered.  Who were they investigating, really?  How was that going to ID or catch the intruder?  A crime scene such as Morgan’s is to be considered a homicide until proven otherwise.  What gives here, really?

Complete answers to the possible crime just committed sits at the root of prevention of crime, and isn’t that the goal of law enforcement?  To Protect and To Serve?  If a person, usually a woman, is the victim of stalking, doesn’t she deserve adequate protection?  Or is that too much to ask?

And though the following was in response to a different post there is a comment I want to share again with you, this is too perfect a place for it not to – Guardian Angels.