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Personally I don't think the Arizona DPS cops that bungled the Leslie Merritt were incompetent morons.
I suspect they are corrupt cops who would frame their mothers if that's what it took to make them and their agency look like crime fighting super heroes like Batman and Robin. Same goes for the prosecutors that work for Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery And sadly that's how most cops operate. This case reminds me of the August 10, 1991 botched Wat Promkunaram Buddhist temple murders in the West Valley. The cops made most of the same mistakes. They made in the Freeway shooter case. In both cases the cops ignored evidence that proved the arrested people were innocent. And in both cases the cops fudged evidence that didn't fit to make the evidence fit. And I think the mistakes were INTENTIONAL made in both cases so the cops could take credit for being crime fighting super heroes like Batman and Robin. The Wat Promkunaram Buddhist temple murders where the worst murders in the history of Maricopa Count, and maybe in the state of Arizona (outside of where the government murdered large numbers of Indians in the territorial days.). In the botched Wat Promkunaram Buddhist Temple murders 4 kids form Tucson were falsely arrested and coerced into confessing. Mike McGraw, a patient in at Tucson mental hospital called the cops in Phoenix and said he might have some information on who committed the murders. Yea, the cops took seriously a call from a guy in a NUT HOUSE in Tucson who said he could help them solve the worst murders in the history of Maricopa County. And for those of you who are not from Arizona, Tucson is about 100 miles south of Phoenix. It's not like they drove from Scottsdale to Tempe to commit the crime. And that ended up with the Maricopa County Sheriff coercing confessions out of Mike McGraw, Leo Bruce, Mark Nunez, Dante Parker, all who had NEVER been to Phoenix. Like the Freeway Shooter case there wasn't a shred of evidence that the Tucson Four, Mike McGraw, Leo Bruce, Mark Nunez, Dante Parker did it, other then a bogus confession that was coerced out of them, which they all recanted. The Tucson Four sat in the Maricopa Jail for almost a year until the cops discovered evidence that Johnathan Doody and Alessandro Garcia did it. And then the case of Johnathan Doody and Alessandro Garcia was handled pretty much the same. It seems the cops illegally cohered confessions from both of them. Although I suspect that there is a good chance that Johnathan Doody and Alessandro Garcia are guilty. But that doesn't make coercing confessions out of them right or legal.
Merritt's attorneys: DPS investigators ignored evidence in Phoenix freeway shootings Megan Cassidy, The Republic | azcentral.com 2:09 p.m. MST April 28, 2016 For about 40 minutes on Wednesday, County Attorney Bill Montgomery explained to reporters why he would continue to withhold details about the “freeway shooter” case that was dismissed this week. Investigators and prosecutors still were cobbling together information, he said. Prosecutors still could refile charges against former suspect Leslie Merritt Jr., or bring a case against someone else. Merritt’s defense attorneys took a different approach Thursday morning. At a news conference in downtown Phoenix, attorneys Jason Lamm and Ulises Ferragut presented what would have been their presentation to a jury as they argued for Merritt’s innocence. The presentation was a searing reproach of Arizona Department of Public Safety investigators, who Lamm said routinely ignored evidence that contradicted their theory. Speaking before a backdrop of defense experts and investigators, Lamm put on an opening argument of sorts, complete with crime-scene photos, diagrams and snippets of expert reports. The state’s case hinged on ballistics, and accordingly, so did the defense’s. Lamm underscored some of the case’s key challenges that emerged over the past few months, like DPS changing the timeline for the shooting, and a durable tire that would have acted as an alibi. He also showcased holes in the case not before revealed to the public. For one, he said, FBI cellphone data indicated that Merritt was at home when one of the shootings took place. And in two of the victims’ vehicles, evidence showed that Merritt’s car would have been too low to have produced the bullets’ projectiles. “There has never been any evidence that Leslie Merritt is the I-10 shooter, and we are confident that there will never be any evidence,” Lamm said. “Because Leslie Merritt is simply not the I-10 shooter.” Merritt was arrested Sept. 18, at the time bringing a sigh of relief to Valley commuters on edge after a string of freeway shootings. Beginning in late August, DPS officials had counted 11 separate incidents in which vehicles had been struck with a bullet or other projectiles. Phoenix freeway-shootings case Merritt was linked to four of the incidents through a gun he had recently pawned. The case hit snags from the get-go, after DPS officials were forced to adjust the timeline on when they believed one of the incidents took place. But the beginning of the end began last week, when both prosecutors and defense attorneys acknowledged in open court the existence of a report, commissioned by prosecutors, by ballistics expert Lucien Haag. Lamm said Haag’s findings eliminated any remaining evidence tying Merritt to the case. Superior Court Judge Warren Granville subsequently removed the $150,000 bond, allowing Merritt to walk out of jail the same day. Prosecutors moved to dismiss the case late Friday evening, setting the stage for Granville’s ruling Monday morning. Defense attorneys said they planned to ask Granville to dismiss the case with prejudice, thereby removing the option for prosecutors to refile charges. Merritt's attorneys also have filed a $10 million wrongful-arrest claim against the state, which contends Merritt’s treatment came in response to “intense political and financial pressure.”
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