AFTERMATH: SCREWED

There is a note on the bottom of Byron Case’s Case Action

Record. “T. Crayon advises that informant ID has been revealed
to Δ. Because of threat to witnesses Δ is to be held w/o bond.” It
was written and signed by Judge Standridge. I know nothing
about Judge Standridge other than his signature is impossible to
read, he uses Greek symbols in his writing, and he takes Theresa
Crayon at her word.
For those unfamiliar with Greek, Δ represents a capital Delta in
the Greek alphabet. D is for defendant, so in the quote above Δ
represents Byron Case.
Given the facility with which I mismanage special characters in
my documents, I may have had more difficulty entering Δ into
this book than Theresa Crayon had getting Byron’s bond revoked.
All she did was advise Judge Standridge that some unidentified
person had at some unspecified time revealed to Byron that Kelly
was an informant.
I’m pausing for a moment in the hope that this will raise multiple
questions in your mind. It’s an exercise of sorts, hoping to lure
you into thinking as a skeptical juror.
Ready? Good. Here we go.
Who, you might ask, told Byron that Kelly was an informant, and
when, you might ask, did this happen? The answer to the first
question is a shocker. The answer to the second is disturbing.
As it turns out, Byron Case first learned that Kelly Moffett was
acting as a police informant after his arrest and incarceration.
You might therefore reasonably conclude that Byron’s bond was
revoked while he was in jail, before his mother had time to round
up the $20,000 non-refundable deposit for the bond.
You would be seriously wrong. Byron’s bond was revoked at least
two hours before his arrest.
Byron Case was surprised by the sudden arrival of 13 officers
from the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI. It took only
seconds from initial knock, to yelling “police, come on out with
your hands up,” to the pursuit / stumble / whatever, to cuffing
him. Byron had no idea what was going to happen beforehand,
had no time to orient himself once it started, and had no hope (or
intent) of resisting well-armed officers in tactical gear.
I believe the arrest was well-handled. By coupling overwhelming
force with the element of surprise, the arrest team minimized the
risk of harm to the officers, the suspect, and bystanders.
The arrest occurred at or near 1 PM on June 11, 2001. Keep this
in mind as you read from another of Sergeant Kilgore’s reports.
On 06-11-01, at approximately 1100 hrs., I received a
telephone call from Mr. Spencer G. Colliate, the Director of
Criminal Records in Kansas City Mo.
At the time, Mr. Colliate asked me if I was aware the bond
on the warrant for Byron Case had been changed. I told Mr.
Colliate that I had received no information regarding the
bond amount.
Mr. Colliate stated Judge Standridge had been informed the
witness’ identity had been revealed to Case and for the
witness safety he has ordered that Case be held without
bond.
I asked Mr. Colliate if he had a document signed by the
Judge with this order and Mr. Colliate stated the Judge’s
order was written on the Case Action record. At my request,
Mr. Colliate faxed me a copy of the Judge’s order.
More than two hours prior to arresting Byron Case, it appears as
if Theresa Crayon managed to have Byron’s bond revoked. She
did so by telling Judge Standridge that Byron had learned Kelly
was a police informant, though Byron was not to learn of that
until after his arrest.
Crayon made no mention of how Byron might have learned of
Kelly’s role as an informant. It’s unlikely law enforcement told
him, since they relied on surprise and overwhelming force to take
him into custody.
It’s unlikely Kelly told Byron of her informant status, since the
discovery in the case shows no further contact with Byron after
the second, and only, controlled phone call to him.
It’s unlikely Theresa Crayon or anyone from the prosecutor’s
office told Byron of Kelly’s informant status. They too wanted to
preserve the element of surprise. Also, there is no mention in the
discovery papers of anyone contacting Byron after the second
phone contact.
It’s possible that no one informed Byron of Kelly’s role as an
informant until after he was in jail, just as Byron claims.
Do you understand now why I tell you repeatedly to be skeptical
of everyone? They will lie to you. They will lie to judges. They will
lie to the public. They will lie to themselves. It’s all in the name of
justice.
 
Byron’s incarceration turned out to be spectacularly effective in
helping Theresa Crayon win what seemed to be a shaky case.
Preparing a defense against the State is no easy task, even if you
happen to be innocent. Preparing one from within the confines of
the Jackson County jail is immeasurably more difficult. Preparing
one while being unaware of manufactured evidence borders on
the impossible.

Byron kept a journal while in the Jackson County jail. From that
journal, we can continue tracking the history of the uncontrolled
phone call and its falsified transcription. The journal shows that
Byron was long kept unaware of the uncontrolled phone call and
the egregiously erroneous transcription.
July 9th, day 29. Byron first meets with someone from the Public
Defender’s Office. “The lawyer I mentioned came to see me
today bringing news of my case.” No mention is made of the
phone call. In fact, the lawyer Byron sees is not actually assigned
to Byron’s case. Byron remains effectively without counsel.
August 9th, day 60. Byron meets with his public defender, Jarrett
Johnson, for the first time. “At last, my public defender came to
speak with me this afternoon, giving me some reasons to be
hopeful again. The motion for a bond hearing [to get the bond
reinstated] will be submitted either tomorrow or Monday, which
means the hearing will most likely be held on a Friday: either
next week or the week after, but no later.” No mention is made
of the phone call.
August 15th, day 66. “I continue to hope beyond hope that I’ll be
free in time to welcome in what Bianca always called ‘sweater
weather,’ and again I was assured of the favorable odds of that
scenario by my lawyer, who said the judge would likely assign a
bond of only $150,000.” Byron obviously believes his family could
raise the $15,000 non-refundable cash payment a bondsman
would require before posting his $150,000 bond. His mother
would take another mortgage on her house, but he would be out
of jail while preparing his defense. He makes no mention of the
tape.
August 21st, day 72. “Bittersweet news reached me today via
Mum, who’s becoming one of the only people I call anymore. The
lawyer contacted her at work to let her know that . . . my hearing
was scheduled for Friday, September 7th, nearly three weeks
from today. Ouch.”
September 1st, day 83. Byron manages to place a phone call to
his public defender. Byron first learns that his 5 June phone call
to Kelly was recorded, and that the phone call will be used as
evidence against him. He is told that the phone transcript will not
be included in the 2000 pages of discovery the prosecution is
about to provide. “Why is that relevant?” he writes. “Jarrett says
they wouldn’t have it if they didn’t feel something said had been
in some way incriminating. That bothers me because there
wasn’t anything said that even alluded to the night Anastasia
was murdered, least of all anything which might have suggested
that I killed her! Why can’t I get a transcript? What’s the big
secret?”
September 5th, day 87. Byron finally receives the discovery. “At
LONG last. Mr. Johnson brought me the epic work that is this
case’s discovery. Nine-hundred pages, all out of any degree of
order, now need to be organized by me and subsequently read
and annotated. It looks like I’ll be busy for a long time.” No
mention of the tape or its transcription. There is, however, more
hope expressed regarding the bond hearing. “Supposedly he’s
going to ask for $70,000, but the judge may choose to double
that amount. Either way will be affordable assuming it’s payable
through the court. My head hurts just thinking about how long it’s
going to take to pay back the mortgage / credit company. Dog.”
September 7th, day 89. Byron finally gets his bond hearing. It
doesn’t go well. “My stomach did summersaults when the judge
ruled that I was to be given a $300,000 cash bond. He may as
well have said ‘bond refused’ and left things the way they were. I
can’t fathom dealing out $30,000 (which would just be flushed
into a bondsman, i.e. non refundable) to buy me back the next
year of my life. . . . [T]he prosecution brought up Kelly’s mom to
say she’s scared of me getting out and doing something to one of
her daughters. The judge, doing his job, fell into the prosecutor’s
trap and decided I’m a danger to society / myself / whoever.”
September 12th, day 94. “Sad to say, but Mum’s going around
and talking with mortgage companies to get the one with the
lowest mortgage rates. The one she’s found so far is a fat
12.9%er, which means monthly payments of over $300 a month
for fifteen years. Yow. Scary thought.” Byron’s mother will be
unable to raise the higher bond. Had the initial $200,000 bond
not been revoked, she might have been able to raise the $20,000
fee for a bondsman. The delay and the increase put Byron’s
release out of reach. There is still no mention of hearing the tape
or reading its transcription.
September 26th, day 108. Byron learns that he will be assigned a
new public defender. Jarrett Johnson is leaving the PD’s office for
private practice. He writes in his journal. “Maybe I’ll get lucky and
someone a little more aggressive in the courtroom will find my
discovery on their desk.”
October 11th, day 123. Byron learns the name of his new public
defender. “Shit. Shitshitshitshitshit. Um. . . when I first opened a
line of communication with [a potential private attorney] he told
me that if I couldn’t get the money to hire him I shouldn’t worry
much due to the quality of Jackson County’s public defenders. Of
course there are some lawyers with more experience and such,
but he told me they were all quite competent, except one. That
attorney’s name was Horton Lance and [he] said to me: ‘If they
assign him to your case, run like hell.’ You get two guesses as to
who my new attorney is.”
December 17th, day 190. Byron has spoken to his new public
defender only a few times in the last two months. “Oh, Horton
Lance didn’t come in. I’m calling him tomorrow to drop a little
reminder that I am, in fact, still here.”
January 18th, day 222. Byron reviews the discovery with his
attorney for the first time. “My impression of Horton Lance gets
better with every visit. This afternoon’s two hour conversation
with him was not only the most in depth (we were able to read
parts of the discovery together for the first time) but at the end
of it his previously flaccid handshake had become quite a bit
more ‘grippy.’” After 222 days in jail, Byron finally gets time with
his public defender to discuss the case against him. Still there is
no mention of hearing the tape or reading the transcript.
March 20th, day 283. Byron learns that Anastasia died of a
contact wound to the nose. He is excited because he knows that
Kelly alleged he was standing five feet from Anastasia when he
shot her. “Some things of importance have happened with regard
to my case, fortunately. Horton’s talked with both Brahm
[Kneisley] and Tara [McDowell] about possibly testifying in my
behalf and he’s subpoenaed the mechanic [Don Rand] who saw
Anastasia get out of the car that night; depositions of Kelly and
the Jackson County Deputy Medical Examiner [Chase Blanchard]
have been done and copies have already reached me. . . . I’m
very lucky Kelly didn’t consider the distance from shooter to
victim when coming up with her story because if she somehow
guessed right, or close to right, proving my innocence would
probably be a lot tougher.” Still Byron makes no mention of
hearing the tape or reading the transcription.
April 4th, day 298. Byron mentions the recorded phone call for
the first and last time in his journal. “It had been twenty-seven
days since Horton Lance saw me or spoke with me . . . [H]e left
me several documents . . . including . . . the summary report
from K.U. Med the day after she called me recording the
conversation for the police, which shows I was running a very
high fever and may have been delirious.”
By day 298, Byron has finally seen Kilgore’s transcription of the
June 5 phone call. He has come to realize that the phone call is a
problem. It’s been nearly a year since the call, and he cannot
recall it with sufficient clarity to challenge Kilgore’s transcription.
He’s trying to understand how he could have failed to respond to
Kelly’s accusations that he killed Anastasia.
The trial is less than three weeks away. He has yet to hear the
tape. In fact, he will never hear the tape until it is played for the
jurors during trial. He is denied access to recording devices while
he is in jail, even when speaking with his attorney. He will have
no opportunity to listen to the tape, to compare it to the
transcript, to correct Kilgore’s transcription errors, to wonder
about the beeps and ringback tones. He will certainly not have
access to software that will allow him to filter the noise from the
tape and learn that he actually did respond to Kelly. He will not
be allowed to wonder why his voice had been silenced while
Kelly’s remained loud and clear.
During his three hundred days of incarceration, Byron lost the
specific details of the seemingly insignificant phone conversation
that would weigh so heavily on the jurors.
Few of us can remember the specifics of year-old calls, even if
they were of supreme importance. When peppered with
questions about the tape by someone who had been allowed to
listen to the tape as frequently as desired, Byron could offer no
explanation. He could only concede that if it was in the
transcription, he must have said it; if it wasn’t in the
transcription, he must have said nothing.
The bond revocation worked wonders for the prosecution.