Attorneys for Barry Morphew, the man previously arrested and charged with the murder of his wife Suzanne, are trying to change his dismissal ruling from “without prejudice” to “with prejudice”.
The main difference between the two dismissals is whether or not a person accused of a crime can be re-tried in a court of law. In April of last year, a Fremont County judge ruled Morphew can be re-tried by dismissing the case without prejudice.
KRDO spoke with Colorado Springs attorney Jeremy Loew, who states this kind of change in ruling would be “almost unheard of.” Loew went on to say, “I really can’t think of a situation where the judge has dismissed a murder case with prejudice, but this case is different than almost 99% of other cases. This is a no-body homicide. There are discovery violations and it’s one thing after another. So, while it would be shocking that the judge would convert this to a dismissal with prejudice, not necessarily surprising given how much just weirdness has surrounded this case.”
Loew said his believes Morphew’s defense team’s posturing to get the dismissal ruling changed is because he could be subjected to depositions after filing a $15 million civil lawsuit against various prosecutors and investigators last month.
Depositions allow attorneys for any of the people Morphew has sued to interview him, effectively allowing anything he says to be used against him in criminal court if the prosecution decides to re-try the case.
Morphew is back in court June 26th for a hearing. That hearing could be about limiting the public’s access to certain sealed documents.
