Thomas Lee Johnson's case will be reheard, possibly in Routt County
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Steamboat Springs — Thomas Lee Johnson, convicted in 2001 for killing Steam-boat Springs resident Lori Lyn Bases, has been awarded a new trial.
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled Sept. 10 to deny the state's request to reconsider a 2006 Court of Appeals decision granting Johnson a new trial. Johnson will get a new trial because of an error in the instructions given to the 12-member jury that found him guilty.
Rob McCallum, a spokesman for the Colorado Judicial Branch, said the Supreme Court did not make a ruling in the case, instead deciding not to hear the State Attorney General's petition for Writ of Certiorari, a document asking the Supreme Court to hear the 2006 appeal from the Colorado Court of Appeals. In Latin, certiorari means "to be informed of, or to be made certain in regard to." It is the name given to certain proceedings for re-examination of actions of a trial court, or lesser courts.
The petition came on the heels of the Court of Appeals' May 2006 decision to grant Johnson a new trial. Of the three judges who made the decision, two agreed that the jury instructions regarding self-defense were "fatally defective." One judge ruled against granting a new trial, saying the instruction was faulty but not did not warrant a new trial.
Bases was found dead at her Steamboat home May 11, 2000, after being stabbed more than 20 times in her throat, chest, back, arms and legs. An autopsy revealed that Bases bled to death.
After Johnson's arrest in 2001, prosecutors successfully argued that he killed Bases because she was interfering with one of Johnson's relationships.
Nate Strauch, a spokesman for the State Attorney General's Office, said the office has not released a statement regarding the Supreme Court's ruling in the Johnson case, and would not likely make one.
Deputy Colorado State Pub-lic Defender Ellen Eggleston, who is representing Johnson, also did not return phone calls seeking comment Tuesday.
In a letter dated Sept. 10, Eggleston told Johnson she would no longer represent him once the Supreme Court's mandate was filed in Routt County. The letter also explains to Johnson the Supreme Court's decision, and that Johnson's case will return to the district's jurisdiction.
"What that means is that you have won your direct appeal and will be going to district court for a new trial," the letter reads.
Preparing for trial
Steamboat Springs Public Safety Director J.D. Hays said the police department was aware of the possibility that Johnson would get a new trial after the Court of Appeals' 2006 decision.
"We'll go through and present the same case this time around," he said about the police department's role in the case. "Our assumption now is to locate all the witnesses that were involved in the first trial. We have to find all those different people and subpoena them."
Hays estimated the Johnson trial cost the city about $50,000.
On Tuesday, 14th Judicial District Attorney Bonnie Roe-sink said she was reluctant to discuss the case in detail to limit pretrial publicity, which prompted the original 2001 trial to be moved to Fort Collins.
Roesink said the District Attorney's Office has six months from receiving the state's mandate to retry the case. It's possible the case be tried in Steamboat Springs, she said.
Roesink said retrying murder cases is rare - almost as rare as murders in Steamboat Springs. The Bases murder was Steamboat's sixth murder since 1979.
Johnson, who is serving a life sentence without parole in Sterling, would be tried on the same charges he was convicted of, including first-degree murder, criminal trespass and criminal mischief.
McCallum said the chief judges in the 8th Judicial District, where the case was tried in 2001, and the Fourte Judicial District will be "in conversation" as to where the trial will take place.
"Together (the chief judges) will decide what is most appropriate venue, taking into account why the venue was changed from Routt County to Larimer County during the first trial," he said.
Fourteenth Judicial District Chief Judge Michael O'Hara was unavailable for comment Tuesday because he was at a conference in Grand Junction.
McCallum said he expected the judges to make that decision by the end of the week.
'I'm disappointed'
Bases' mother, Sherry Mesecher, said she was disappointed the Colorado Supreme Court wouldn't hear the state's petition to maintain the original conviction.
"Since Lori was the victim, we can't go out and get different counsel," she said Tuesday from her Las Vegas home. "At this point we have to let the legal system take care of it, but as a mother, it's like it happened yesterday. You never get over that."
Mesecher, who testified in the 2001 trial, said she plans to attend every hearing as the case moves forward.
"I'm more disappointed that the legal system goes out of the way looking for loopholes to get a convicted killer off," she said.
- To reach Alexis DeLaCruz, call 871-4234
or e-mail adelacruz@steamboatptilot.com
Comments
id04sp 5 years, 8 months ago
Let's all remember why this case was moved to Ft. Collins in the first place:
From the Pilot, December 5, 2001:
City agrees to take over GRAMNET by Gary E. Salazar
Defense attorneys for Thomas Lee Johnson attempted to remove McLimans and St. James from prosecuting Johnson because GRAMNET conducted an investigation of the case's presiding judge, Joel S. Thompson, and his live-in girlfriend, Billie Jo Vreeman.
The task force arrested Vreeman on federal drug charges in August, which caused Thompson to recuse himself from the Johnson case.
Charges against Vreeman were later dropped when she agreed to enter a drug diversion program.
And some more, from the Pilot on August 31, 2001:
Judge rejects defense motion by Gary E. Salazar
Townsend argued Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Donald Sperry obtained an arrest warrant for Vreeman because he wanted to stop Thompson from questioning him about a federal subpoena he had secured for the Johnson case.
Sperry has admitted he lied to a phone company when he used a federal subpoena to obtain phone records in June 2000.
And some more, from August 29, 2001:
DEA agent says he misused his authority in case by Gary E. Salazar
On Aug. 7, Sperry signed a warrant for the arrest of Billie Jo Vreeman of Craig, the live-in girlfriend of 14th Judicial District Judge Joel S. Thompson, who had been the judge on the Johnson case. The 36-year-old Vreeman was arrested at Thompson's house Aug. 10 on federal drug charges. She was released Aug. 13 and has not been indicted.
Based on Vreeman's arrest, Thompson recused himself from the Johnson case.
On Wednesday, Sperry declined to answer questions about Vreeman's arrest or whether he was also investigating Thompson. But former Deputy District Attorney Charles Feldmann testified that as the project director for GRAMNET he was notified last October that Sperry was conducting a drug investigation of Thompson and Vreeman. Feldmann resigned from the DA's office in May.
Thompson has not been arrested and has not been charged with any crime in connection with Vreeman's arrest.
Sperry is expected to return to the stand when the hearing continues at 8:30 a.m. today.
Townsend contends Sperry obtained the arrest warrant for Vreeman in an attempt to intimidate and remove Thompson from the case. During an Aug. 8 court proceeding, Thompson ordered Townsend to subpoena Sperry to testify about the phone records, and the judge threatened to hold the agent in contempt if he failed to comply with the subpoena.
Thanks, GRAMNET.
And people wonder why Sheriff Wall didn't fund it.
And people criticize Sheriff Wall's pro "civil liberties" policy.
And is this why we don't have trials? Because it's too easy to blackmail key officials over drug use?
dundalk 5 years, 8 months ago
Id:
It was my understanding that the trial was moved due to circumstances that would have prohibited Johnson from receiving a fair trial based upon the local population already having an opinion from media immersion. How does the Judge's co-habitational pal play into this mess? I do not excuse the drug situation but really I don't see your pre-occupation with the drug crap.
whoyagonnacall 5 years, 8 months ago
Why are you blaming GRAMNET? There is one issue and one issue only as to why this case was remanded back for trial. The jury instruction for self defense approved by the defense, the district attorney, and the judge was found to be defective. Total BS in my opinion, this case had as much to do with self defense as GRAMNET had with writing that instruction.
id04sp 5 years, 8 months ago
Dundalk,
When things don't happen according to the law, there's a reason why. Either somebody has something to hide, or something to gain. We've heard all the denials and the cover stories, but do you really expect anyone to believe that former judge Thompson didn't find out about then 36 year-old Billie Jo Vreeman's drug abuse until they were romantically involved? At what point did he make the decision to harbor a drug abuser instead of, at least, turning away from the relationship in acknowledgement of the fact that he was breaching his ethical responsibilities as a judge by not turning her in?
The publicity surrounding the Thompson-Vreeman issue caused the move. Thompson and Sperry are responsible for making the issue public. They are the ultimate reason why the case was moved. If the initial trial could have proceeded as planned, the outcome would certainly not have been the same as the Ft. Collins result.
Judge Thompson and GRAMNET, at least in the body of Sperry, stradled both sides of the law to get into this mess in the first place. They are the reason that the controversy arose and the trial had to be moved.
The "pre trial publicity" very much included the coverage of the Thompson-Vreeman-Sperry issues, and raised public interest in the trial.
From the Pilot, October 8, 2002:
OUR VIEW: A Not-So-Private Affair
The arrest of Judge Joel Thompson's girlfriend on drug charges last year was an unfortunate incident.
The arrest came in the middle of the Thomas Lee Johnson murder trial.
A couple of days after Thompson threatened DEA agent Donald Sperry with contempt if he did not reveal how he obtained certain phone records, Sperry arrested Thompson's girlfriend, Billie Jo Vreeman, at the couple's home in Moffat County. Given the potential conflict, Thompson correctly chose to recuse himself from the trial.
Also from t he Pilot, Sep 26, 2001:
Johnson's trial moved by Gary E. Salazar
Quinn, who lives in Denver, did not elaborate on why he picked Larimer County for the trial but said the "county has not been exposed to the pretrial media publicity that has taken place in this case."
A former Colorado Supreme Court Justice, Quinn was assigned to the case in August after 14th Judicial District Judge Joel S. Thompson disqualified himself.
Quinn based his ruling on the amount of local newspaper and radio reports, along with the jury pool that exists in Routt County.
The Steamboat Pilot & Today has published 43 articles on the case since Bases' death was discovered.
"There has been extensive newspaper publicity in this case," Quinn said. "Many of these have been lead or close to lead articles. This case has generated continued and significant interest in the community."
paddlefisher 5 years, 8 months ago
Hes guilty as sin evrevrybody knows it..a technocality..waste of tax payers money
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