Opinion ID: 744576
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The trials of Thompson and Leitch

Text: 50 The prosecutor's pursuit of fundamentally inconsistent theories is evident from the transcripts of the two trials. In the second trial, the prosecutor presented essentially the same theory used at the pretrial proceedings. Yet, in between those court proceedings, the prosecutor convicted Thompson under an entirely different theory, and argued critical facts to Thompson's jury that were at odds with those presented both in the preliminary hearing and Leitch's trial. 51 The prosecutor presented markedly different and conflicting evidence at the two trials. At Thompson's trial, the prosecutor did not call any of the four jailhouse informants who had testified at the preliminary hearing and claimed that Thompson had confessed to them. Instead, he called two new jailhouse informants, Fink and Del Frate, who also claimed that they were the recipients of Thompson's confession, but who told an entirely different and factually inconsistent story. Contrary to the testimony of the earlier informants, the two new informants testified that Thompson had told them that he had raped Fleischli and had killed her before Leitch returned home, and that he killed her in order to prevent her from reporting the rape. 10 Fink further testified on direct examination that Leitch found out about the murder only when he returned home, and that he merely assisted Thompson in disposing of the body because Thompson convinced him that they should go to Mexico together. The testimony of Fink and Del Frate provided the only direct evidence that (1) Thompson killed Fleischli, (2) Fleischli was raped, and (3) Thompson raped her. The prosecutor termed the two informants' testimony dispositive and very, very damaging because they had no reason whatsoever [to] lie. The latter statement is patently untrue, as demonstrated by the fact that shortly after Fink incriminated Thompson, his parole hold was dropped and he was released from jail on the basis of favorable information provided by law enforcement officials. 52 The prosecutor did not call either Fink or Del Frate at Leitch's trial. Instead, he called defense witnesses from Thompson's trial (most of whom he had subpoenaed for Leitch's trial immediately after objecting to their testimony at Thompson's trial). These witnesses testified about Leitch's violent disposition, Leitch's threats toward Fleischli, and Leitch's motive to kill Fleischli. The prosecutor relied heavily on their testimony to establish Leitch's motive for the murder.