Saturday, December 15, 2007

What Happened in the Supression Hearing on Dec. 13, 2007

In short here is what happened based off of e-mails and discussions from some of those in attendance. The defense team tried to have the evidence that was take from John's house suppressed. And that he was wrongfully arrested. They claimed that John's 4th amendment rights were violated in both cases. They also tried to suppress the statement that John had made to the police, claiming that John's fifth amendment rights were violated. And finally the defense team wanted any evidence from Todd's truck, including the truck, thrown out(Which is a significant part of the crime scene). In all of the motions filed by the defense team the judge rulled that the police were reasonable in their actions (All of the defense team's motions were denied). The judge also cited some case law from at least one higher court (I believe that it was the US Supreme Court), which was consistant with his judgement.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Supression Hearing

Our family has learned that there is going to be a suppresion hearing on December 13th. It is my understanding that the defense is going to try to keep as much evidence against their client as they can from being admitted into court at the trial (Which is still tentatively set for Jan. 7, 2008 I believe).

Monday, November 19, 2007

Todd and Zoe

My sweet little cat Zoe passed away on Friday, November 16th. She had been my good friend for nearly eight years, and our whole family adored her.

Todd was allergic to cats -- not deathly so, but they did cause his allergies to flare up. Consequently, he had a policy of not allowing himself to become very attached to any cute, furry, animals. (Not that he disliked them -- he simply preferred to remain indifferent.) I think Zoe, however, managed to secure a rather special place in his heart. I can recall some rather tender moments between the two of them, and I think he was more fond of her than he perhaps wanted to be.

Zoe was always drawn toward humans. She wasn't shy at all. Now, I like to envision her having adopted her "Uncles Todd and Paul" as her new humans, hanging around with them, amusing them with her antics, and otherwise keeping them company. Todd doesn't have to worry about allergies anymore, and I rather suspect he'll be honoring his earthly mother's hope that he'll keep an eye on the precious little furball.

Raving mad cat lover that I am, I certainly wasn't above projecting all kinds of human traits upon poor Zoe during her life, at least in fun. Human thought and speech were the most commonly transferred characteristics. When Todd was alive, sometimes I'd mention that Zoe had asked me to tell him hello for her. His response would always be, "And a fine 'meow, meow' back to the feline!"

This Thanksgiving, our family will be remembering Todd, Paul, and Zoe in our feast. It seems appropriate in this season of appreciation that we be most grateful for the precious relationships that we're given in life, for the opportunities we have to love and be loved, and for the assurance that our most cherished relationships can continue forever.

To Todd, Paul, and Zoe: Happy Thanksgiving!

Love,
Lisa

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

The Grand Jury, and a Note to Thems That Know Stuff

The grand jury phase of John's case has been the least troubling thus far -- they returned an indictment yesterday. Hooray.

Our next step is to wait for the trial. We have a friend whose husband was murdered a few years ago. (WHY do people feel the need to murder each other?!) Anyway, in her case, the time between commission of the crime and the trial's conclusion was a little over two years. Make yourselves comfortable, everyone. It's going to be a long ride.

Meanwhile, I would encourage anyone who has any first-hand knowledge of anything relating to John or this case, to PLEASE WRITE DOWN EVERYTHING YOU KNOW. It will probably be a long time before trial, and your memory is bound to dim between now and then. Write down as much as you know now, and stick to the facts. Don't speculate. Don't gossip. DO make sure you share everything you know with Detective Steven Shillingford (703-246-7858), no matter how trivial it seems to you now. Also, don't assume you won't be called upon to testify. As a family, we're already learning that more people may have to testify at this thing than we ourselves would have assumed.

Thanks much.

Love,
Lisa

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Update on Bail Status

A hearing was held in court before the pliminary hearing this week. In fact it was several weeks ago. And it was determined by a judge that John, the person suspected of killing Todd, will be held without bail for the time being.

Preliminary Hearing

On Monday, we had what's called a preliminary hearing in Fairfax County General District Court. When a person is charge with a felony (in Virginia), they're entitled to a pretrial hearing, which is basically a sort of mini-trial without a jury, where a judge decides if there's probable cause to proceed with indicting and trying the person, or not (in which case, the charges would either be reduced or dismissed altogether). The preliminary hearing takes place before discovery, and it is generally in the prosecutor's interest to refrain from offering up all of their evidence at the hearing. They want to present enough evidence to pass snuff with the judge, but not more.

Chief Judge Donald P. McDonough presided at Monday's hearing. (I rather liked the man -- he seemed competent, fair, and down-to-earth.) Carrie and Detective Shillingford testified (and they both did an excellent job). Katie Swart argued for the prosecution, and Mark Dycio (an associate of Jim Love) argued for the defense. Jim Love was also present at the defense table. Our social worker from V/WAP also attended and sat with us in the gallery -- it was very nice to finally meet her in person.

The hearing was emotionally hard on us (especially on Carrie who had to testify), but the outcome was good. Chief Judge McDonough determined that there is probable cause to believe that the accused person committed the offense, and certified the case to the grand jury. The grand jury hearing will take place on Monday, but we won't be involved in that (grand jury proceedings are closed). We're not worried about that step, though -- the evidence is good and (to paraphrase Sol Wachtler) most grand juries will indict a ham sandwich. Once the indictment comes through, our next step will be to wait...and wait...and wait...until the trial rolls around, which will be months from now. Of course, we could all be saved a lot of time, trouble, and expense if John would just fess up and admit to doing what he clearly did -- but none of us are holding our breath for that to happen.

I would like to make one request regarding the trial, which will be in Circuit Court: whoever reads this, please offer prayers that we'll get a good judge who will handle the case fairly, rationally, and in accordance with the law. (If you've been reading this blog, you know there's at least one judge in the Fairfax County Circuit Court pool who hasn't always behaved that way.) So much will hinge on what evidence the judge deems admissible. So please pray that we'll be assigned a good judge.

Love,
Lisa

P.S. A note about the charges: For the purpose of the preliminary hearing, the prosecution moved to temporarily amend the charges from "murder in the first degree" to simply "murder," with no degree specified, while reserving the right to specify the degree prior to trial. The defense agreed to the amendment, reserving the right to object to whatever degree the prosecution moves to specify later. The reason for the amendment was purely strategic -- under Virginia statute, if the charge is murder without a degree specified, the court must presume that it's murder in the second degree, even though that isn't explicitly stated. The advantage for the prosecution is that it lowers the burden of proof needed to "pass" the preliminary hearing, so they don't have to play as many of their cards this early in the case. Not a bad strategy, really. Still, rumors have been flying that the charge has been permanently reduced. Make no mistake, the prosecution fully intends to charge John with murder in the first degree. And if the defense objects to the degree being reinstated in the charge, there's really not a lot they can do about it.

P.P.S. The Virginia Courts Case Information online now shows the amended charge as being murder in the 2nd degree. That is either a typo by the clerk, or a system default for murder that has no degree specified. (My guess is the latter.) Once again, I repeat, the prosecution fully intends to charge John with murder in the first degree. The amendment is only temporary.

Thanks.

Saturday, August 4, 2007

Epic Drama Unfolding: "As the Bail Turns"

The status of John's bond (i.e., bail) is quickly becoming a soap opera, so much so that I thought I would start a new post to talk about it, rather than stringing my comments onto the old one.

Anyway, to recap "from our last episode": John was denied bond by a magistrate following his arraignment on July 2nd. Last Thursday, his attorney filed a motion for a District Court judge to review the magistrate's ruling. On Friday, the District Court judge looked at the case, acknowledged a few obvious facts, and promptly upheld the magistrate's original ruling denying him bond. John's attorney immediately filed an appeal to the Circuit Court, and a hearing was scheduled for Wednesday morning.

And now for the continuing saga: The hearing was Wednesday morning. Nobody thought he'd be given bond. But, lo and behold, the Circuit Court judge granted his request. That was very surprising (and dismaying) to a lot of us. People are now going into hiding.

Evidently this Circuit Court judge was a former defense attorney, which may or may not have been a factor in his decision. He might simply have been bored, out-to-lunch, drunk, smoking pot, or just plain stupid. Who knows? Dad says the hearing lasted about ten minutes, and that most of that time was monopolized by John's attorney. He went on and on, claiming that John was a wonderful guy with ties to the community, that the shooting was done in self-defense (which isn't true and should not have been considered relevant in a bond hearing anyway), and that the prosecution didn't have any evidence to support the notion that John is an obsessed, stalking sociopath, and thus a danger to himself or others. The prosecution was given very little time to say "actually, yes, we really do have evidence, starting with..." etc. etc. etc.

Most people charged with crimes in America are granted bond -- in other words, they're given the option of putting up collateral in the form of bail with an agreement to stay in town and otherwise behave themselves -- in exchange for being able to spend their pre-trial days/weeks/months/years out of jail. The idea is that you're innocent until proven guilty, so the government shouldn't ruin your life prior to conviction. Most people, however, aren't being charged with first degree murder.

In the Commonwealth of Virginia, first degree murder is a class 2 felony, punishable by 20 years to life. Under Virginia statute, a judge making a bond ruling in such a case is required to operate with a bias against granting the defendant what's called "admission to bail" (i.e., setting a bail amount).1 That's subject to rebuttal by the defense, of course, but they're supposed to start with the presumption that the person is a flight risk and/or a dangerous person, which are the legal criteria for holding someone without bond. The judge is not to attempt to assess the merits of the criminal case itself, but simply determine if the person is too dangerous or too slippery to let out of jail prior to trial.

Personally, I think the judge made a grave professional error, that he ignored the statute, ignored the facts presented to him by the prosecution, and is placing innocent people in danger as a result. I think he ought to be reprimanded. I'm biased, of course, but evidently, so was he. The detective and the prosecuting attorney (who have at least half a century of professional experience between them), plus another attorney I spoke to, were all agog.

HOWEVER...

...NOTWITHSTANDING THE ABOVE...

...John is, as of this moment, still in jail. What's that you say? He was granted bond on Wednesday morning, has loads of cash, and is still sitting in the tank?!! Why, yes! He is! (The cash, by the way, also makes him a flight risk, pardon my peeve...) Anyway, he's still in jail for now -- that could change. But in the mean time, we're grateful. We're not sure of the exact sequence of events following Wednesday's hearing, but we do know the following:
  • Katie Swart (our prosecutor, whom we love) quickly filed an emergency appeal which hasn't been ruled upon yet.

  • John has been having trouble finding a bail bond agent who's willing to sign him up. The reason for that is not public information. But given the fact that they'll lose $400,000 if he doesn't behave himself during his release, I'm thinking that might be a factor. (Observe the subtle hint of sarcasm.)


The moral of this story is that sometimes bail bond agents are smarter than Circuit Court judges. Go figure. I'm just grateful he's still in jail, and I hope he doesn't get out.

Sooner or later, we'll see how this soap opera plays out. That is to say, "Join us next time for more thrilling drama (as we rip our hair out) in "As the Bail Turns!" Yadda, yadda, yadda...

~ Lisa

1 The statute regarding admission to bail reads as follows: "The judicial officer shall presume, subject to rebuttal, that no condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure the appearance of the person or the safety of the public if the person is currently charged with...an offense for which the maximum sentence is life imprisonment..." (Code of Virginia, §19.2-120.B, emphasis added).

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Talks From the Funerals

Hello - Many people have requested copies of certain talks given at the funerals. Here they are, along with some comments.

First is the eulogy. There are two versions of it, one from each funeral. The main difference between them is that the first one (given in Centreville, Virginia) contains a message from us to his assailant. It was quite therapeutic at the time, and I'm glad we put it in there. For the second funeral (in Riverton, Utah), however, we decided we didn't want to perpetuate the same level of anger, so we took that part out. There were also a few other minor changes, but nothing worth enumerating here.

So here they are (click on the links): The Virginia eulogy and the Utah eulogy. Also, shown below in this post are a couple of photos relating to stories we shared about Todd.

Also very much in demand has been Mark's talk on forgiveness, which was delivered in the same form at both services. It really is excellent, and I highly recommend reading it. We have actually been discussing submitting a modified version of it for publication in The Ensign. We'll see how that goes. Anyway, here's the link for that one.

And here's Todd!















Here's Todd as Aslan the lion in Narnia. I'm not sure of the date, but I think it was maybe two years ago. It was definitely while he was living in Ridgecrest.




























Home for the Holidays in 1999: Here's Todd "lovingly obeying his mother" by bringing Scott for dinner. ;-) Some things we thought would never change! (*Sigh!*) Scott's face has been blocked out for security reasons -- we don't want John knowing what he looks like.

We miss you, Todd!

Love,
Lisa

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Programs from the Funerals

Hello - Here are scanned copies of the programs we used at each of the funerals. Thanks, Carrie!


Love,
Lisa

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Thank You

Our special thanks to Detective Steven Shillingford as well as to everyone who has helped him in any way with this investigation. You are all doing a wonderful job and your efforts are greatly appreciated.

Carma & David

IT'S A GREAT BLOG!

Thank you, Lisa, for creating such a great blog in Todd's memory. I miss Todd. We all miss Todd, and I'm so sad his life ended the way it did. However, the Lord always blesses us as we fight life's battles. He has sent us the Comforter who has given us peace in our hearts.

It has been interesting to go through the grieving process, and we have definitely been going through the “refiner’s fire.” Sometimes I cry, sometimes I laugh when I think of fond memories, sometimes I worry about Todd’s siblings and Carrie as they struggle to deal with the pain, sometimes I'm angry with John that he would take Todd's life in such a senseless way, and sometimes I praise the Lord for his blessings and peace. What an emotional rollercoaster!

Given time, I will definitely forgive John for what he has done. However, John won’t really benefit from this because he doesn’t need my forgiveness. What he needs is God’s forgiveness, and I suspect that’s going to be pretty hard to come by. I must forgive for my own benefit and because God has commanded it. I have no desire to wallow in anger and self pity over what has happened which would, in the end, make me a bitter and cantankerous person. I want to let it go, and I can let it go with Heavenly Father’s help. Forgiveness is a process that can take a long time – maybe even years. Forgiveness is also a gift from God and we can’t achieve it without His help.

Thank you to the many friends and loved ones who have reached out to us and prayed for us. Your prayers have definitely helped. We are so appreciative of your support.

Love,
Carma

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Todd's Voice

Hello - I'm posting a .wav file of the very last voice message I received from Todd. It was left late in the day on Friday, June 29th, a little over 24 hours before the assault. He had taken off work that day, and he and Carrie went to the temple together. (That's when they took the picture you see on the left.) While they were inside, they happened to run into Norm Wendel, our old high school music teacher from Taylorsville, Utah! It was such a surprising reunion, he wanted to call and tell me about it!

Anyway, after the temple, Todd and Carrie went ring shopping. The next day, Saturday the 30th, was also a beautiful day that Todd spent with loved ones. We're so grateful for those final hours that we had with him! Now, it seems strange to cherish something as ordinary as a message left on voice mail, but what can I say? I miss Todd!

Click here to access the sound file. I'm afraid it's rather large, around 1M, but well worth listening to!

Love,
Lisa

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Adding blog feed to your Google home page

If you want to, you can now add a feed from this blog to your personalized Google home page. Just click on the button.

Add to Google

Love,
Lisa

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Evidence

Not that anyone would, but for those who may publish to this blog, this is a friendly reminder to please not write about any witnesses and/or evidence, related to this case in this forum. That information may be shared here after the case has been to trial.

However if anyone has any information regarding the case (good or bad), please do share it with the Fairfax County Police Department as soon as possible. Contact information is posted below.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Forgiveness

Tonight as I began my personal scripture study, I realized it was the first time I'd opened my scriptures since Todd died. With all the craziness that's been happening since then -- and with all the emotional exhaustion -- I simply hadn't gotten to it. But I'm glad I did tonight. It was a lot like coming home; like coming in for a safe landing after a long and painful flight.

This evening, I opened to 3rd Nephi, chapter 5 (in The Book of Mormon) because that's where my bookmark happened to be. In the preceding chapters, the Nephites had been fighting against the Gadianton Robbers, who at one point had overrun the entire land. But the Nephites, who had gathered and fortified themselves in one central location, had held out and finally conquered. How ironic that this was the point at which I found myself reading this evening! In verses 4 and 5, I read the following:

"And now it came to pass that when they had taken all the robbers prisoners, insomuch that none did escape who were not slain, they did cast their prisoners into prison, and did cause the word of God to be preached unto them; and as many as would reprent of their sins and enter into a covenant that they would murder no more were set at liberty. / But as many as there were who did not enter into a covenant, and who did still continue to have those secret murders in their hearts, yea, as many as were found breathing out threatenings against their brethren were condemned and punished according to the law."

It's not a perfect parallel with our current situation. For one thing, John's already been given the gospel. Still, a very interesting thing happened as I read those verses... I began to feel what I would describe as the first faint beginnings of forgiveness toward him.

Now, here I am sitting at my computer, and I'm still amazed at what I felt -- and still feel -- since that reading. Realistically, I have no expectation that John will ever sincerely repent of what he's done. But this scriptural passage was a reminder to me, I suppose, that the Atonement is still extended to him (though it won't be forced upon him). It also reminded me that this is hardly the first murder case in history! Our family has not been the first to grieve over such a thing; the fact that we are in shock ourselves doesn't mean that the Savior is inexperienced at easing this particular type of suffering or resolving this particular type of injustice. As we put our trust in Him, we are indeed in the hands of a Master!

To paraphrase a thought from Mark's talk at the funeral, John needs God's forgiveness, not mine -- I need to forgive him for my own sake. This first glimmer of inner peace was a welcome discovery. I feel as if I've finally spotted the Land of Canaan in my binoculars. I'm not there yet -- not even close -- but I'm grateful to have seen it.

Love,
Lisa

Salt Lake Funeral Information

For anyone interested in attending the funeral services in Salt Lake, here's the info:

"Funeral services will be held Saturday, July 14th, at the Riverton 8th Ward, 12345 South 2700 West with the viewing at 10:00 am and the services at 11:00 am.

"In lieu of flowers, please make donations in Todd's memory to LDS Humanitarian Services, c/o LDS Philanthropies, Attn: Blair Mortensen, 1665 S. Bennett Road, Salt Lake City, UT 84104."

Love,
Lisa

Monday, July 9, 2007

Anderson Rules Uno

Okay, Russ! Here it is!

Some of you who knew Todd have heard of the monstrosity known as "Anderson Rules Uno." To quote from the eulogy, "Anderson Rules Uno was a monster card game played with at least three Uno decks at a time. Perhaps it had once resembled the original Merle Robbins game, but you'd never know it. The whole thing began as a...diversion with [Todd] and a group of his friends in high school. They would gather in the classroom of their math teacher, Mr. Anderson -- thus the name -- and play what can only be described as the 'Calvin-ball' of card games. The rules even prescribed imitating Mr. Anderson's voice and gestures while making certain plays."

Todd's friend Russ took the initiative and began documenting the rules in writing. He now has them posted online. To view the rules, go to: http://pezao.us/ARUno.htm

Enjoy!

(Todd, the next time we play, can you help me win?) :-D

Love,
Lisa

Since we do need to share some information about the criminal case...

...here's where we'll do it.

Scott found a useful website for checking on the case of John Bloxham (Todd's assailant) online:

Virginia District Court in Fairfax County:
http://208.210.219.132/vadistrict/select.jsp
From there select "Fairfax County General District" court and click on "Begin."
Then select "Criminal."
At the next screen enter "GC07132206-00" in the case number field on the right, or enter "Bloxham, John" in the name field on the left. Hit "Search."

Also, here's a useful link for understanding the Fairfax County court process in general:
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/courts/cjsdesc.htm

As of this moment, here is where things stand:
On July 2nd, a magistrate ruled that John would be held in jail without bond. (Yippee!) However, that ruling is still subject to review by a judge, who may or may not decide to uphold it. John has no prior record, has ties to the community, etc. etc. His attorney may argue that holding him without bond is unreasonable for any number of reasons. On July 9th, I sent an email to our V/WAP (Victim/Witness Assistance Program) rep asking when this review by a judge will take place, along with a few other questions. I'll update this post when I learn something.

John also has until July 25th to get an attorney. More accurately, he has until July 25th to retain counsel and have said counsel go on record with the court as being his defense. If he doesn't have an attorney by then, the court will appoint one for him. If I'm not mistaken, he can also expedite the process by requesting court-appointed counsel prior to the 25th.

September 10th is the date currently set for his preliminary hearing, which is where he'll enter a plea. It is extremely possible that John's attorney will file a motion to have that date postponed, so don't hold your breath.

The Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney's office (703-246-2776) will appoint a prosecuting attorney to lead the case, but probably not until about three weeks (give or take) prior to the trial. In the meantime, the detectives are conducting their investigation.

The Investigation Itself:
It's important to remember that this is an ongoing investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS/8477 or Fairfax County Police at 703-691-2131.

The investigation is being headed by the wonderful Det. Steven Shillingford of the Fairfax County Police Homicide Division. His office number is 703-246-7858. He can be paged at 703-612-0142. If you have any information at all that might pertain to this case, you can also give him a ring.

John Bloxham is being held at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center (703-246-2178).

Thanks!

Lisa

Sunday, July 8, 2007

Todd's Obituaries

There are two versions of Todd's obituary being published, one for Manassas and one for Salt Lake.

The first was printed in the Manassas Journal Messenger on July 5th. I think they'll keep it online for 30 days. You can also view a scanned copy of it from the print edition by clicking here.

The second version will be published in Salt Lake. It's not ready yet. I'll add it to this blog after it becomes available.

Love,
Lisa

How to Post to this Blog

As of this moment, I'm the only one who can post. But as soon as I get the technical end of things straight, I plan to give authorship permissions to members of our immediate family and a few close friends. That policy may change later, but that's the plan for now.

Thanks.

- Lisa

A Blog is Born

It's now been a week since Todd passed away and we're all very sad, but we're also pulling together, and I think Todd would be glad about that. We thought it would be a good idea to set up a blog in his memory, so here it is. But how do you capture a person's life in words? The answer is, you can't. But talking and writing about him helps us manage our grief.

I hope this will be a place where we can all write about our memories of Todd, his life, his service, his mind, his tastes, his humor, his friends, and everything else that came together to form that special characteristic "Todd-ness" we now miss so much. We may also decide to talk about his death, and the criminal case now underway, but I hope we won't dwell on that side of things too much. There was so much about Todd's life that was good and worth celebrating.

Todd, it was a privilege having you here with us! We're so grateful to have known you, and even more grateful for our knowledge that life persists beyond mortality, and that we can one day be with you again.

With all our love,
Lisa et al

P.S. The "official" URL for this blog is inmemoryoftodd.blogspot.com

Regarding Comment(s)

To see existing comment(s), you have to go back to the very top of the post and click on the title of the post, which is underlined just below the date. (Bit of a pain, I know, but I'm not sure how to make it work otherwise.)

To make a new comment, click on the "# comments" link at the bottom of the post, immediately followed by "Posted by (name) at (time)." Or, after opening the existing comment(s), click on the link that says, "Post a comment."