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  mesa cops say they dont need no stinking evidence to arrest people for murder!!!! mesa cops say f*ck the constitution when they have a murder case on their hands. Original Article


Attorneys want evidence in Mesa slayings unsealed

Jim Walsh
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 16, 2006 12:00 AM

MESA - Murder suspect William Craig Miller's attorneys are demanding the unsealing of evidence that police used to arrest him and prosecutors used to indict him in the slayings of five people in east Mesa.

Miller's attorneys were denied part of this evidence a week ago when Maricopa County Superior Court Judge James Keppel ordered some of a probable-cause statement unsealed but left much of it blacked out under police-redaction procedures.

A hearing on their motion is set for today.

A grand-jury indictment issued Monday and unsealed Wednesday charges Miller with five counts of first-degree murder, burglary and tampering with evidence in the Feb. 21 slayings. The indictment says Miller may not have acted alone but does not give a motive or explain how he would have gotten into the gated community and the home. Both of those issues may be addressed in the court paperwork that the lawyers are seeking.

A short time after Miller's arrest on March 3, a court commissioner allowed prosecutors to redact the entire document.

Mesa police Sgt. Chuck Trapani said police are still searching for one or more additional suspects in the slayings. Steven Duffy and his brother, Shane Duffy, 18, both worked for Miller, as did Miller's girlfriend, Tammy Lovell, 32. Also shot to death were Lovell's children, Cassandra, 15, and Jacob, 10.

Keppel ordered some of the probable-cause statement released when an attorney for the First Amendment Coalition challenged the commissioner's ruling.

The unredacted portion of the document revealed that the same handgun used to shoot Steven Duffy was used to fire bullets found in the bedroom of Miller's Scottsdale house.

Miller inadvertently contributed to his arrest by reporting a burglary that police now say was staged. Police found the bullets while investigating the supposed burglary.

Miller is scheduled for arraignment Wednesday. Prosecutors then have 60 days to decide whether to seek the death penalty.

The indictment offers two different theories: Miller shot the victims to death, or they were shot to death by Miller and a possible accomplice during a burglary.

Trapani said nothing was stolen from the house, and the burglary charge stems from entering with a deadly weapon to commit a felony.

"There's no sign of forced entry. We don't know if they were let in or they had a key," he said.

The charge of tampering with evidence stems from the burglary that police now say was staged at a house Miller rented in the 12700 block of North 78th Street after his own house burned in November.

Prosecutors later charged Miller and Steven Duffy with arson. A Scottsdale police report said Steven Duffy and Tammy Lovell cooperated with the investigation.