Opinion ID: 2635258
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: loss and destruction of evidence

Text: ¶ 24 During the fourteen years between Luther's initial injury and the filing of murder charges, some evidence was lost or destroyed. Retinal scans showing Luther's retinal hemorrhaging and audiotapes of the polygraphs administered to Hales and Westerman were lost; as was the case file of materials collected by the State for its civil case. Additionally, sometime prior to Cope's review of the case in January 1998, the original criminal investigation file containing the evidence and interviews initially collected by the Midvale City Police Department was destroyed by that Department. [1] ¶ 25 To reconstruct the case against Hales, the State contacted Westermanwho in 1986 had received copies of the documents in Midvale City's investigative file for purposes of her civil caseand made copies of the documents that she had retained. Westerman was also able to provide her deposition from the civil case. And Detective Hodgkinson (now a Sergeant) still had audiotapes of his initial interviews of Westerman and Hales. The State also obtained access to the original CT scans and medical records, which were still on file with the hospital. The State added to these materials by interviewing members of Westerman's family who had not previously been interviewed (or, at least, whose interviews were not recorded in the reconstructed file), including Paul Deem, from whom Hales had sought help on the night in question. ¶ 26 Aside from any unknown information that might have been available in the complete investigative file, it is known that the audio tapes of the polygraphs administered to both Hales and Westerman and the retinal scans are still missing. Hales has also identified possible witnesses who can no longer be found, including nurses and social workers who were involved in Luther's care and interacted with Luther's family. Hales specifically points to two witnesses whose absence he claims caused him prejudice: Annie Bates, a caseworker employed at Primary Children's who wrote a report regarding the injuries to Luther and had talked with Hales and with Luther's family members; and Mel Harwood, a Primary Children's caseworker who, according to the police reports, contacted police on December 20, 1985, to report that the hospital had concerns about Westerman and to request that Westerman take a polygraph. Hales also suggests that a few other unavailable sources and potential witnesses might have had information but does not specifically state how they would have helped him. Finally, Hales challenges the failure of the Medical Examiner's Office to perform an autopsy after Luther's 1997 death. ¶ 27 Based on the lengthy delay in prosecution, combined with the loss, destruction, and erosion of evidence in this case, Hales filed a pretrial motion to dismiss the action for violations of his due process rights. On October 28, 2002, the district court entered a memorandum decision in which it rejected Hales's due process arguments because Hales did not prove that the State delayed for the purpose of gaining a tactical advantage. The court found that [t]he record contain[ed] no evidence to suggest that the government intentionally withheld its filing of the criminal charge to purposefully gain any specific tactical advantage over [Hales]. It continued, Nothing here suggests that the State was attempting to destroy exonerating evidence or increase [its] chance to prosecute the Defendant. In fact, the decision to defer charging the Defendant until now has left the State at a distinct tactical disadvantage, since the State bears the burden of proving the charge of murder.