An Update on the Legal Battle

It's been a long time since I've posted here. At the time of my last post we were facing a deadline for filing a 35(c) motion, which in Colorado is a motion for post-conviction relief. In it we asked for a hearing where we can raise issues of unfairness in Todd's trial that have not been previously addressed. I'm happy to report that we will receive a 35(c) hearing. It's not yet scheduled, but we're hopeful that it will occur in the next few months.


Presiding at the hearing is Senior Judge John McMullen from Denver, who has been assigned to the case after a ruling that none of the judges in our local Colorado Springs district could hear the case.

Central to the hearing will be medical evidence provided by state "experts" that was misleading, inaccurate, and went unchallenged in the trial.

The prosecution's theory of the crime was that Todd, unseen by any of the six witnesses, stabbed the victim in the heart (a horrific wound that punctured both ventricles). And then the victim went on to a fierce fight with another person--a fight that he entered energetically and that was seen by all witnesses.

State medical witnesses testified that the victim's seemingly miraculous ability to engage in a fierce fight with his heart slashed resulted from a medical condition called "cardiac tamponade."

There are two problems with this theory that never came out at the trial. First, there is much physical evidence indicating that cardiac tamponade did NOT occur. Second, cardiac tamponade is itself a serious condition that leads quickly to death.

We'll keep you updated as events unfold.

In the meantime, please take a look at Todd's latest blog. He along with others is blogging for the National Coalition for Criminal Justice Reform, a newly founded organization chartered in Idaho by the national network of activists that came together for last summer's Freedom March to raise awareness for wrongful convictions.