What Happened to Morgan’s Rights?

 

 

Remember a post I did quite a while ago, that I hoped the men who wear the hats do their jobs?  I’m sure you all wondered what in the world I was talking about…well here it goes.  I was talking about certified, return receipt letters that had gone out to the Garfield County Coroner’s office, with cc’s to the Garfield County Commissioners, the District Attorney’s office, as well as the County Attorney’s office.  After months of trying to speak with our Coroner Trey Holt, and never so much as a call back, I wasn’t too surprised that he didn’t answer my letters, but I honestly thought at least someone in the County would pick up the phone and ask what is going on here.  That didn’t happen either.

So after months, and months of trying to get the Forensic Pathologist Dr. Kurtzman (he did Morgan’s autopsy that was done the afternoon after she was found on the morning of December 2, 2011) to redo Morgan’s death certificate (the original one said that she died from natural causes, and we knew, based upon doctors, and professors at UCLA Medical Center, as well as San Franciso’s Children’s Hospital, her local doctors, as well as the foremost Medical Examiner in Colorado, that this was not the case.  Steve and I consulted with many, many specialists as well as a very well respected Pathologist/Coroner Dr. Michael Dobersen, who had just wrapped up the Aurora theatre shootings, in order to find out the truth behind Morgan’s death.  A healthy 20 year old, with no chronic illness, that had been horribly scared, and stressed by a felony stalker for 4 months straight, does not just up and die, and then Garfield County only releases in their records that a 20 year old female dies an unattended death – what is that supposed to mean?   How is the general public and others in this valley supposed to know what happened?  I am sorry Steve and I didn’t jump into this fight sooner, but we were so shocked and debilitated from losing Morgan that it took a lot to get our power centers back – but we now have them back.  There is no doubt that Morgan died under suspicious circumstances, that is why the autopsy was ordered, due to inadequate investigation at the death scene and everything that followed, this was treated as though some girl that was just enjoying her normal life, and just passed away in her sleep…baloney!  Morgan’s stalker was there that night, and we can prove it.  We are her parents.  We lived in the same house.  We put up 24 hr. video surveillance around the house, and we should have been questioned by the Coroner’s office, and we never were!   Morgan was planning on meeting a friend in the morning for breakfast – it was her last text she ever sent.  And she was planning on going to Frisco, CO to babysit the children of our Military over the weekend, while their parents were at their retreat.  Morgan loved kids.  Morgan had her puppy, and kitty in her room with her…they were her babies, would you commit suicide with your babies lying right next to you? Morgan wouldn’t.  And if the stalker drove her to suicide or an accidental overdose (which didn’t happen) that should have prompted an investigation, but no that never happened.  Under the law, her stalker would still be guilty of murder.  Morgan was happy, and loved life, but she was also stressed, and exhausted from the constant strain of her stalker.  One of the detectives spoke with Morgan at length, on my suggestion, 2 weeks before she died to make sure she was handling the stress OK, and the detective assured me Morgan was fine – she said Morgan used her two point ballet classes per day as a release, and was actually able to talk out her feelings with her ballet teacher Miss K., as well as her friends in ballet 5 days per week, while cooling down from their extreme workout.  The detective said it was the same way she relives stress by being a runner.  Then two days before Morgan was murdered we were in Grand Junction, and on a request from me, Morgan’s doctor took all her vitals and asked Morgan how she was holding up – Morgan told her she was just stressed, and tired from lack of sleep, but also very positive, and hopeful that the stalker would be caught soon, and things would be back to normal…I had said that to her after talking to the detective just the day before, and he had indicated that he was getting the suspects hours next Tuesday, and would overlay them with my timeline.

Now before I tell you the following I would like you to know in the CRS Victims Rights of Colorado it says:

Article II, Section 16a – Rights of Crime Victims

Any person who is a victim of a criminal act, or such person’s designee, legal guardian, or surviving immediate family members if such person is deceased, shall have the right to be heard when relevant, informed, and present at all critical stages of the criminal justice process. All terminology, including the term “critical stages”, shall be defined by the General Assembly.

This did not happen.  Every time I spoke on the phone to Dr. Kurtzman about Morgan’s autopsy (because you see if he puts down natural causes, which he did, then there is absolutely no murder investigation launched – what kind of law enforcement work is this when nothing is investigated, no one asked Steve or I any pertinent questions, possible witnesses were never interviewed, cameras were never reviewed, and I could go on and on.  I would say, “How can a healthy 20 year old that is being horrifically stalked end up dead of natural causes if she had nothing wrong with her?”  He would then give me back a subtle threat, “Only because I did not find any pills, fragments of pills in her stomach, I could not classify her as a suicide or accidental overdose.” Morgan’s tox screen had come back with no alcohol, no illegal drugs, nothing on her labs except a really high level of Amitriptyline.

Steve and I knew she did not take Amitriptyline, we were never asked what prescription drugs, if any Morgan was taking – does this make any sense to you?  His flippant answer was, “the parents are always the last to know.” So after that we went to the pharmacy and had them print out all her medication records, all the way back for two years, and low and behold, no Amitriptyline in the last 1 1/2 years of her life.  We spoke with her doctors and they all concurred that Morgan did not want to take any pills.

  • They need to make it illegal to sell these drugs online.   Every date rapist in the world has easy access to this stuff.   At least make them have to find it on the streets the old fashioned way.

Today we had a reporter contact us that had heard about this website, and blog – and wanted to write an article so the community could know about what happened – he had not heard anything about a stalker or a death due to a stalker in this valley.  He contacted the Coroner’s office, and asked for Morgan’s postmortem examination report – he was told that they had revised it.  He was faxed the report at 12:12 pm this afternoon at the same time as Steve and I.  We have never received a call that they were reclassifying anything until today.  Could it be because they knew we had gone to Dr. Dobersen for a 2nd opinion, and now they had to try and cover their mistakes?  Why didn’t they call or write or email us?  This is NOT VICTIMS RIGHTS!  Morgan’s rights to due process were, and are still being completely trampled.  The suspects rights took precedence over Morgan’s rights, if he didn’t want to be questioned, and he wanted to lie, he was free to do so, it didn’t matter the Detective told us to our faces that there is nothing he could do about it.  This is starting to sound to me like what rape victims years ago (and maybe still sometimes today) have had to go though…get raped by the rapist and then raped all over again by the justice system.

Colorado Victims Rights Laws

§ 24-4.1-302 – Definitions

As used in this part 3, and for no other purpose, including the expansion of the rights of any defendant: (1) “Crime” means any of the following offenses as defined by the statutes of the state of Colorado, whether committed by an adult or a juvenile: (cc.1) Stalking, in violation of section 18-9-111(4), C.R.S.;

(6) “Victim’s immediate family” means the spouse, any child by birth or adoption, any stepchild, the parent, the stepparent, a sibling, a legal guardian, significant other, or a lawful representative of the victim. – So Steve and I are also considered victims, and are sure not being treated as such

The last thing I would like to say is this.  If I make a mistake or my kids made mistakes I always believe in confessing to your mistake, apologizing (if you mean it) and never doing it again.  We are all human, not one of us has never made a mistake.  Why couldn’t the Sheriff’s, after realizing the protocol they were using to protect Morgan wasn’t working for 4 months admit it and change up – try something that works?  Really – the stalker came to our house many times a week, we knew where he was going to be (around our house) the only thing we didn’t know is when he would be there. So was a plan that never managed to apprehend him very good…I don’t think so.  According to the National Center for Victims of Violent Crimes: Stalking and Murder go hand in hand.  Stalking is serious, pervasive,and lethal.  Why couldn’t the Forensic Pathologist, after saying he was willing to change Morgan’s PER to reflect that she was murdered, if he was shown sufficient evidence, never opened an investigation – why were her parents the ones that were supposed to investigate?  She had a stalker and died under suspicious circumstances – is that not enough to open an investigation?  Why wouldn’t the Coroner speak with us – we are Morgan’s parents, we deserved at least that.  Is this a pattern of abuse by Garfield County?  I don’t think this only happening to our family.  We need to take back our valley, and make it the beautiful safe place it used to be.  Community involvement, along with law enforcement, and victims rights should be our main objective.