Attorneys for Morphew are asking that the case be dismissed based on a claim that the prosecution intentionally withheld massive amounts of evidence prior to the preliminary hearing and probable cause would not have been found, documents show.
Fox 21 News in Colorado Springs is reporting that the newly released documents also contained an internal affairs investigation of Colorado Bureau of Investigations Agent Joseph Cahill, one of the lead investigators in the Morphew case.
According to the report, Cahill and another agent co-led the year long investigation into Morphew.
During the interview, documents showed that Cahill told the internal affairs investigator that “arresting Mr. Morphew was premature, and the worst decision that could be made.”
Cahill also stated to the internal affairs investigator that after putting the case together for a year, he saw an “erosion of framework” while he was at military school from March through May of 2021.
The report said that on Aug. 24, 2021, during the preliminary hearing testimony, Cahill claimed he only read nine pages of the Morphew arrest affidavit. At the time, internal affairs requested revisions to the affidavit, documents showed. However, internal affairs claimed that multiple requests were made to Cahill for revisions to the affidavit between Aug. 24, 2021 to Jan. 25, 2022.
District attorneys on the Morphew case complained to CBI administration about Cahill’s testimony during the August 2021 hearing. Cahill said he received a phone from the defense attorney the night before his testimony asking him to appear in court.
Cahill said he showed up to the hearing unprepared and, according to the recently released documents, had almost no communication with the sheriff’s office or the district attorney’s office before the hearing.
Cahill said the complaint specifically asked that he no longer worked on the Morphew case, the report showed.
The week after the complaint was filed, documents said Cahill was transferred to the CBI’s marijuana unit.
Morphew was arrested in May of 2021 and formally charged with first-degree murder, tampering with evidence and attempting to influence the public following the disappearance of his wife, Suzanne Morphew, on Mother’s Day 2020.
The trial is scheduled to begin in late April.
