Tuesday 22 February 2011

SBS: Arizona: Jonathan Edward Vandergriff and Staci Lynn Barbosa charged

JIM SECKLER/The Daily News: February 15, 2011
 
KINGMAN — A motion to depose a witness in the case of a Bullhead City man who allegedly murdered his infant son was argued Tuesday in Superior Court.
Court Commissioner Derek Carlisle allowed Creighton Cornell, the Tucson attorney for Jonathan Edward Vandergriff, to withdraw a motion to depose a witness in the case with the understanding that the prosecutor will informally interview the witness. Cornell may re-file the motion in the future. Cornell said the witness is in and out of a Phoenix hospital.
Vandergriff, 24, and his co-defendant, Staci Lynn Barbosa, 19, are each charged with first-degree murder, child abuse by domestic violence, sexual assault of a minor under the age of 15 and sexual conduct with a minor under the age of 15 for the death of their infant son last summer.
Vandergriff faces the death penalty if convicted of the murder charge. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty against Barbosa. The couple could also face life in prison with or without the chance of parole after 35 years if convicted of murder.

Another hearing is set for Tuesday to argue a motion to allow Cornell to visit with his client in person. Since the new Mohave County jail has been built, inmates only communicate with family members by video conferencing and sometimes with attorneys through a glass partition. Also to be argued is another motion to allow Vandergriff to have contact with his daughter.
Vandergriff’s case, a capital murder case, has been designated a complex case, which means he will not go to trial for more than a year. Vandergriff is being held on $500,000 bond and Barbosa is being held on a $250,000 bond.
Barbosa was arrested June 15, 2010, after she took her badly injured son, Matthew, to the Western Arizona Regional Medical Center. Vandergriff turned himself in to police officers later that day.
According to hospital staff, Matthew suffered from bruises, broken ribs, a broken femur, swollen eyes and was malnourished and dehydrated. The infant allegedly showed signs of sexual abuse and shaken baby syndrome. Matthew was later taken to a Las Vegas hospital where he died the next morning.


http://www.mohavedailynews.com/articles/2011/02/16/news/local/doc4d5b6983e59a2109432509.txt

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