Gabriel Johnson #4 2/16/10 - 2/20/11

[Northern Rose]

 Elizabeth Johnson's request to fire her attorneys
http://www.azcentral.com/ic/pdf/1006elizabeth-johnson-letter.pdf

[Northern Rose]

Woman in missing baby case can no longer afford her lawyers

The lawyers who represented a woman in the case of missing baby Gabriel Johnson since February no longer will be representing her in future court proceedings because they stated in court documents that she no longer can afford to pay them.

Michael Kimerer and Amy Nguyen, who had been representing Tammi Peters Smith since February in the case of the missing boy last seen Dec. 26, filed a notice of withdraw with Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Paul McMurdie on Monday to inform him they no longer would be representing Smith. The lawyers also requested that the court appoint an attorney for her.

Smith, 38, of Scottsdale, has been charged with forgery, custodial interference and conspiracy to commit custodial interference in connection with the case of the missing baby, who last was seen on Dec. 26 with his mother, Elizabeth Johnson at a motel in San Antonio, Texas.

In mid-December, Johnson drove to San Antonio with the boy in the midst of a custody battle with Logan McQueary of Gilbert, her estranged boyfriend and the boy’s father.

Johnson, 24, of Tempe, has been charged with kidnapping, felony child abuse, custodial interference and conspiracy to commit custodial interference. She is being held in a Maricopa County jail on a $1.1 million cash bond.

Early in the investigation, Smith and her husband, Jack, were discovered to be interested in adopting the boy from Johnson, and Tempe police believed they were devising a plan or had a one in place to have someone pick up Gabriel in Tennessee.

But on Dec. 27, Johnson told McQueary that she killed Gabriel, stuck his body in a diaper bag and threw it in a trash bin. She later told an FBI agent that she gave Gabriel away to a couple at a motel in San Antonio a day after she met them in a park there. Johnson has refused to reveal to authorities Gabriel’s whereabouts or his state of well-being.

Since the time Kimerer and Nguyen began representing Smith in February, they have reviewed “voluminous” disclosure items, consisting of approximately 1,500 documents, 53 CDs, multiple audio interviews and numerous wiretap interceptions, according to county court documents. Kimerer and Nguyen also tried to negotiate a plea agreement for Smith without success as the case go to trial, the court documents stated.

When Jack Smith answered the phone at their residence on Tuesday, he would not comment on the case. Kimerer and Nguyen could not be reached for comment.

Smith and Johnson are next scheduled to appear in court later this month.

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/local/tempe/article_42c5892e-d0d9-11df-a59a-001cc4c03286.html

[Northern Rose]

Internet Detectives (USA)
Sun, 2010-07-11 08:47
We are looking for someone capable of legally determining the identity, address, phone numbers, etc. of people who are literally stalking us on the internet. We will provide you all of the screenshots and tell you which screen names to investigate! They are primarily used on Facebook, Websluths, Scared Monkeys, etc. We are not looking for rumors or snitches we are looking for professionals to provide only for the facts that can be used in a court of law. We will pay TOP DOLLAR for the confirmed identity information on these people! All calls will be kept private and confidential. Thank you and God bless you for your help in stopping these vultures......

Contact Jack or Tammi at 623-XXX-XXXX or 623-XXX-XXXX
Email: XXXXXXXXXXXX
Categories: Developer Jobs

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:181fOUMLnvcJ:www.quevin.biz/aggregator/sources/12%3Fpage%3D113+623-687-1887+craigs+list&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca

[Northern Rose]

New Healing Waters location open in Peoria at Arrowhead in the Dolce Salon and Spa.
Located at 8385 West Mariners Way, Peoria, AZ 85382

http://www.healingwatersaz.com/index.html

[Northern Rose]

Enima woman has opened a 5th location of her flushing services

They have adopted Hannah and have the new baby from Jack's daughter as well according to the article posted

They are offering "TOP DOLLAR" to find the true identities of the stalking Internet vultures on sleuthing sites

AND

their lawyer files to be removed from the case as they can no longer pay so a public defender has been appointed which means the good citizens of AZ are now paying for the defense.

Am I the only person that thinks this is messed up?  Do you not have to prove you can financially look after a child before you are allowed to adopt?  How about placing the baby with them as well? Then there is the new location. Surely the flushing machines are worth something if they sold one to pay for a lawyer   

[Bearlyhere]

I don't think they would take her livelihood away.  She has to have a way to pay her bills. 

She must have been declared indigent to get a public defender, from what I understand.  Then how is she going to pay top dollar for anything?

Stalking is illegal, if someone is really stalking her, wouldn't she call the police?  I am confused about this case and why people who cannot afford it would be able to adopt a child. 

None of these things add up for me.

 

[Missiontoconvict]

Enima woman has opened a 5th location of her flushing services

They have adopted Hannah and have the new baby from Jack's daughter as well according to the article posted

They are offering "TOP DOLLAR" to find the true identities of the stalking Internet vultures on sleuthing sites

AND

their lawyer files to be removed from the case as they can no longer pay so a public defender has been appointed which means the good citizens of AZ are now paying for the defense.

Am I the only person that thinks this is messed up?  Do you not have to prove you can financially look after a child before you are allowed to adopt?  How about placing the baby with them as well? Then there is the new location. Surely the flushing machines are worth something if they sold one to pay for a lawyer   

I could not agree more.  If you ask me this is a diversion tactic, more smoke and mirrors.  IMO Tammi Smith is guilty as hell of what she has been charged with. Her and her little croonie's on the Support Tammi Smith FB page have conjured up the harassment with their over active imaginations.  If they are being harassed then get the he!! off the internet. How stupid do they think people are anyway? I don't buy any of the BS they spew. 

[cookie]

New Healing Waters location open in Peoria at Arrowhead in the Dolce Salon and Spa.
Located at 8385 West Mariners Way, Peoria, AZ 85382

http://www.healingwatersaz.com/index.html

couldn't help but notice the name of her new salon...

[mymonkey]

Enima woman has opened a 5th location of her flushing services

They have adopted Hannah and have the new baby from Jack's daughter as well according to the article posted

They are offering "TOP DOLLAR" to find the true identities of the stalking Internet vultures on sleuthing sites

AND

their lawyer files to be removed from the case as they can no longer pay so a public defender has been appointed which means the good citizens of AZ are now paying for the defense.

Am I the only person that thinks this is messed up?  Do you not have to prove you can financially look after a child before you are allowed to adopt?  How about placing the baby with them as well? Then there is the new location. Surely the flushing machines are worth something if they sold one to pay for a lawyer   

I could not agree more.  If you ask me this is a diversion tactic, more smoke and mirrors.  IMO Tammi Smith is guilty as hell of what she has been charged with. Her and her little croonie's on the Support Tammi Smith FB page have conjured up the harassment with their over active imaginations.  If they are being harassed then get the he!! off the internet. How stupid do they think people are anyway? I don't buy any of the BS they spew. 

Maybe she should contact "DOG THE BOUNTY HUNTER"

[Nut44x4]

Attorneys file to dismiss charges in Baby Gabriel case
Last Updated: 17 hours and 51 minutes ago

PHOENIX - A motion to dismiss charges against a Tempe woman accused of kidnapping in the disappearance of her toddler son has been filed in a Phoenix court.

According to the motion filed Friday by attorney Adam Feldman, a police detective from San Antonio talked his way into a jailhouse interview with Elizabeth Johnson, even though the Maricopa County Attorney's Office had initially turned down the detective's interview request.

Johnson, 24, was in a custody battle over 8-month-old Gabriel when she left Arizona last December.

She at first told Gabriel's father, Logan McQueary, she had killed the boy. She then said she gave him to a San Antonio couple. Johnson was arrested in Miami, Florida where she was found without Gabriel.

In January she was indicted in Maricopa County on charges of kidnapping, child abuse, custodial interference and conspiracy to commit custodial interference. She has not been charged in Texas, and baby Gabriel has not been found.

According to Friday's motion, a San Antonio detective accompanied a county attorney and Tempe detective to talk to an informant who claimed to have information about Johnson and her missing son. After that May 10 interview, the Tempe detective left with the prosecutor and the San Antonio detective stayed behind and was able to spend several hours with Johnson without her attorney present.

Johnson's attorneys are asking that charges be dropped, claiming that Johnson's right to an attorney was violated by the unauthorized interview.

They say Johnson was in a psychiatric ward at the Estrella Jail because of concerns of suicide. She was reportedly also heavily medicated.

Johnson's attorneys claim two Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Intelligence Officers accompanied the San Antonio detective to the interview and allowed Johnson to remove her shackles.

The motion claims the detective spent several hours interrogating Johnson, and that the interrogation "completely altered the nature of the attorney-client relationship in the case."

The attorneys claim the detective positioned himself so close to Johnson their knees touched and tried to assure her that nobody else "could save her or protect her other than him." He also reportedly shared a personal story of his own child's drowning death and held her hands and placed his hands on her legs for an extended period of time.

The visit was discovered when a paralegal from her attorneys' office went to the Estrella Jail to deliver legal papers to Johnson and discovered she was being interviewed by a detective. The paralegal called the office and Johnson's attorney immediately responded to the jail and ended the interview.

Johnson's attorneys maintain that since the May interview, their staff has observed "a continuous deterioration of the legal relationship," saying she remains constantly skeptical and reiterates the sentiment of the detective that "the firm is not concerned about her well being or legal defense."

The detective initially denied recording the interview but later admitted he had and refused to provide a copy to Johnson's attorneys.
 
http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region_phoenix_metro/central_phoenix/attorneys-file-to-dismiss-charges-in-baby-gabriel-case

[Northern Rose]

Attorneys for missing baby's mom: Detective tainted case

Attorneys representing the Tempe mother of missing baby Gabriel Johnson filed a motion to dismiss a case against her on Friday, claiming her constitutional rights were violated when a San Antonio police detective interviewed her in May in a Maricopa County jail.

Nicholas Alcock and Adam Feldman, the attorneys representing Elizabeth Johnson, filed the motion with Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Paul McMurdie, claiming her Sixth Amendment rights were violated when the detective interviewed her at length without her attorneys present when she objected to the interview, according to a court document.

The attorneys claim their relationship with Johnson has been damaged beyond repair because of the interview and they no longer could ethically represent her, according to the court document.

“This is outrageous,” Alcock told the Tribune on Friday. “This was an exhausting interview, and by the end of it, she was clearly disturbed.”

Alcock also alleges that the detective acted as “an agent” for the Tempe Police Department, which investigated the case early on and provided them with information from his interview.

Alcock would not comment on specific details of what Johnson told the detective, but said he has not received any manuscript or the audiotape of the interview.

He said the detective got up close and personal with Johnson, touching her leg, holding her hand and crying with her.

The interview began with the officer telling her that he was her “friend,” but became more combative and aggressive as it progressed, with the detective telling her that she could be facing the death penalty, according to Alcock.

Johnson, 24, has been in Maricopa County’s Estrella jail on a $1.1 million cash bond since early January after her arrest in Miami Beach, Fla. on charges of kidnapping, child abuse, custodial interference and conspiracy to commit custodial interference in connection with the disappearance of her son in San Antonio on Dec. 26. The child turned 1 in May.

Johnson drove to San Antonio with Gabriel in mid-December in the midst of a custody battle with Logan McQueary of Gilbert, her estranged boyfriend and the boy’s father.

On Dec. 27, she told McQueary via text message and phone call that she had killed Gabriel, stuffed his body in a diaper bag and threw it in a trash bin.

She told authorities that she gave Gabriel to a couple at a motel in San Antonio a day after meeting them at a park there. Johnson has refused to reveal Gabriel’s whereabouts or his state of well-being since.

But on May 10, when San Antonio police detective John Salame was permitted to go inside the jail and conducted an “unauthorized” interview with Johnson for about three hours, the interview violated standard “free talk” procedures because constitutional law prohibits law enforcement officers from interviewing anyone in custody without her attorneys present, Alcock told the Tribune.

Alcock said this was in the midst of hearings to determine whether Johnson was mentally competent to stand trial and that Johnson was “heavily, heavily” medicated on Lithium prescribed to her by the jail when Salame interviewed her.

Alcock also said the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office told Salame that he could not independently interview her.

Johnson has not been charged with anything in San Antonio, and police there are investigating Gabriel’s disappearance as both a missing persons case and a homicide.

Officials from the San Antonio Police Department would not comment on Salame’s interview with Johnson, but Salame told the attorneys his jailhouse interview with Johnson on May 10 was unrelated to the case in Maricopa County Superior Court.

When Salame was contacted by the Tribune on Friday, he would not comment.

A Maricopa County Superior Court judge ruled that the detective must provide Johnson’s attorneys with information they obtained from the interview, but Salame has declined to talk further with Johnson’s attorneys.

“The detective already had been told by the county attorney’s office he could not interview Elizabeth and knew that he was dealing with somebody who could have been mentally unstable,” Alcock said.

A hearing date on the attorneys’ pending motion will be scheduled after it is filed.

Johnson has been deemed competent to stand trial and next will appear in Maricopa County Superior Court for a hearing on Oct. 25.

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/local/cop_shop/article_0b6d8564-d311-11df-9889-001cc4c03286.html

[Northern Rose]

Attorneys For Baby Gabriel's Mother File For Dismissal

CBS 5 News has learned that attorneys for the mother of an Arizona baby missing since December filed a motion to have the case against her dismissed.

According to court papers, Elizabeth Johnson's attorneys claims her right to an attorney was violated by an unauthorized police interview.

Johnson's defense team said detective John Solomey of the San Antonio Police Department flew in from Texas back in May, then convinced her to do a jailhouse interview.

According to documents, during the interview Solomey was seen crying and holding hands with Johnson. He was even seen touching her leg. Solomey allegedly went on to say that she shouldn't trust her attorneys.

Johnson's legal team now believes the best way they can help her is to withdraw from the case.

Johnson is charged with kidnapping and child abuse involving Gabriel Johnson, who was 8 months old when he was last seen. The case has become known as the Baby Gabriel case.

Police said they don't know where the boy is or whether he's alive.

Tammi Smith, a north Scottsdale woman who wanted to adopt Gabriel, has pleaded not guilty to charges of felony forgery and conspiracy to commit custodial interference.

Police said she is not connected to the boy's disappearance.

Stay with KPHO.com as this story develops.

http://www.kpho.com/news/25330142/detail.html

[Northern Rose]

Attorney: Baby Gabriel's mom's rights violated

Attorneys for Elizabeth Johnson say a San Antonio police detective has tainted the case against her.

The attorneys claim the detective violated her constitutional rights by interviewing her at length without a lawyer present during a May interview, according to the East Valley Tribune.

They plan to file a motion with the court to have the case dismissed on Friday afternoon.

Attorney Nicholas Alcock tells the newspaper they can no longer ethically represent their client and says it's outrageous that they have not received a manuscript or audiotape of the interview they call "exhausting":


He said the detective got up close and personal with Johnson, touching her leg, holding her hand and crying with her. The interview began with the officer telling her that he was her "friend," but became more combative and aggressive as it progressed, with the detective telling her that she could be facing the death penalty, according to Alcock.
Johnson has pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, child abuse, and custodial interference in the disappearance of her son Gabriel, who was 8 months old when he was last seen in December in San Antonio.

Alcock says the Maricopa County Attorney's Office told the detective he couldn't independently interview Johnson and that the detective was told she was "unstable."


But on May 10, when San Antonio police detective John Salame was permitted to go inside the jail and conducted an "unauthorized" interview with Johnson for about three hours, the interview violated standard "free talk" procedures because constitutional law prohibits law enforcement officers from interviewing anyone in custody without her attorneys present, Alcock told the Tribune.
Alcock says his client was heavily medicated on Lithium when the interview occurred.

A judge's ruling requires Salame to turn over information obtained in the interview, according to the newspaper. Alcock says he refuses to talk to them.

http://ktar.com/category/local-news-articles/20101008/Attorney:-Baby-Gabriel's-mom's-rights-violated/

[Northern Rose]

Lawyers for Baby Gabriel's mom want Ariz. charges dismissed (with video)

TEMPE, Ariz. – The defense lawyers for a woman accused in the disappearance of her young son have filed a motion to dismiss some charges against her.

Adam Feldman and Nick Alcock are lawyers for Elizabeth Johnson. She is facing charges in the disappearance of her baby son, Gabriel, who was last seen almost a year ago.

Johnson’s lawyers say they want some charges filed in Arizona against their client dropped due to an alleged unauthorized jailhouse interview.

Feldman and Alcock are citing police misconduct as a reason to drop those charges. They say a detective from San Antonio spoke to Johnson for about three hours without them present and while their client was medicated and not shackled.

Det. John Salame reportedly was accompanied into the jail by a Tempe police officer and a representative of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office when he went to speak to Johnson at Estrella Jail.

Johnson’s lawyers say Det. Salame conducted an unprofessional and inappropriate interview. They also allege that he told Johnson that he was her only chance of saving her from a Texas death penalty.

3TV tried to reach both the Tempe Police Department and a spokesperson from the county attorney’s office but both declined to comment.

http://www.azfamily.com/news/local/Lawyers-for-Baby-Gabriels-mom-file-motion-to-have-Arizona-charges-dropped-104609059.html

[Northern Rose]

Elizabeth Johnson's Attorney Alleges Unlawful Questioning
Lawyers file motion to dismiss on Friday (with video)

PHOENIX - Baby Gabriel Johnson has been missing since December 2009, and hasn't been seen since -- his mother is jailed in his kidnapping.

Elizabeth Johnson's attorneys want her case thrown out, claiming her rights were violated by a San Antonio detective who questioned her in jail.

Attorney Nicholas Alcock says that back in May, a detective went to the Maricopa County Jail and questioned Johnson for three hours, without telling her attorneys. He's now asking a judge to dismiss the kidnapping case against her, citing a now-tainted case.

"What happened here is outrageous, what happened here is completely unusual," says Alcock. "This detective was told don't go there, don't go visit Miss Johnson and he did."

According to court paperwork, Johnson was on lithium during the questioning. The detective allegedly removed her shackles, held her hand and touched her thigh, asking her about the whereabouts of baby Gabriel.

"The mood went from touchy-feely to very aggressive, and back to crying together. That's an outrageous set of circumstances and to not have your attorney present is unheard of."

Alcock says MCSO jail staff confirm that Tempe Police set up the interview for San Antonio. He claims both departments are working together and violated her rights by interviewing her without an attorney.

After the interview, Elizabeth Johnson allegedly described the detective as handsome and charming. Since then, Alcock says that Johnson refuses to trust her own attorneys.

"If the state interferes with the lawyer-client relationship to the point where they break it, which is what they've done here, the case can be dismissed and that's what we think should happen," he says.

Tempe Police and the County Attorney's Office told us they do not comment on ongoing cases.

http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/justice/elizabeth-johnson-unlawful-questioning-10-8-2010

[Northern Rose]

Elizabeth Johnson Confident She Will Be Freed
Baby Gabriel's Grandfather Says Mother Is Happy, Hopeful

PHOENIX -- Elizabeth Johnson hadn't talked to her grandfather in months, but she called him from behind bars last Friday in good spirits, happy and confident that she will soon be set free, Bob Johnson said.

Elizabeth Johnson's attorneys last week filed a motion to have all criminal charges against her dropped in the case of her missing son, Gabriel.

Her attorneys said a police interrogation by a San Antonio, Texas, detective in May was unauthorized and might have violated her rights and irreparably damaged her attorney-client relationship.

But with Gabriel still missing, Bob Johnson said it is possible Elizabeth could be set free without revealing what she might know about her son's whereabouts.

She told Bob Johnson that she is hopeful and confident she will be let go, he said.

Bob Johnson also told CBS 5 News that Elizabeth seemed more stable mentally now that she is taking anti-anxiety medicine. But he said she would still rather stay in jail than see Gabriel safely returned to his biological father, Logan McQueary.

CBS 5 News has learned that after the May interrogation, that lasted more than three hours and involved crying, praying, touching and hand-holding, San Antonio Detective Jesse Salame went straight to the Tempe Police Department to debrief local investigators.

A Tempe police spokesman would not confirm who was at that meeting and what time of the night it took place, but it might indicate they knew Salame was with Johnson without her attorney present.

Elizabeth Johnson's attorney, Nick Alcock, said he is preparing federal motions to force Salame to share the recordings of what he learned during the interrogation.

McQueary said he talked with Salame on the phone for more than an hour Monday, and that McQueary told him he was not happy that Salame might have damaged the case against Elizabeth Johnson. But after the call, McQueary said Salame convinced him that the interview with Gabriel's mother was proper.

"I think Alcock is talking it up," McQueary said. "This is all a show because he knows this is the only way she will get out of jail any time soon. We are still looking for Gabe. We don't know what happened to him, and she shouldn't be let out until we know the truth."

http://www.kpho.com/valleynews/25361989/detail.html

[Northern Rose]

Missing Baby's Mother Heads Back to Court

PHOENIX - Her son has been missing for almost a year and she's been sitting in jail ever since - yet she won't tell police what happened.

Now, the mother of baby Gabriel, Elizabeth Johnson will head back to court.

The young mother from Tempe claims she gave her son away last December to a couple in San Antonio through a private adoption.

Police didn't buy that story, especially after she sent text messages to Gabriel's father stating she killed the boy.

A landfill was searched, but nothing was found.

In September, a judge said Elizabeth was fit to stand trial.

So on October 25, she'll appear in front of the judge on child abuse, kidnapping and custodial interference charges.

Tammi Peters Smith is also facing charges in connection to baby Gabriel.

Smith claims she was going to adopt the baby from Elizabeth. She was charged with forgery and conspiracy to commit custodial interference.

http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/local/phoenix/johnson-court-missing-baby-10252010

[Northern Rose]

courtpio    Status Conference for Elizabeth Johnson set to begin before Judge Paul McMurdie.

http://twitter.com/courtpio

[Northern Rose]

Judge Paul McMurdie denied Elizabeth Johnson's motion to modify release conditions. Argument on motions to dismiss set on Nov 22 at 9:30

http://twitter.com/courtpio

[Northern Rose]

Elizabeth Johnson's next status conference is Nov. 2nd before Judge Paul McMurdie. They will discuss trial dates.

http://twitter.com/courtpio