MISTRIAL AZ - Isabel Celis, 6, Tucson, 20 April 2012, found deceased in 2017* *Arrest* #27

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As non-lawyers it’s not clear to us whether this claim that sensitive legal documents were improperly seized creates a problem for Maricopa county’s case or Tucson’s case too. There are still hours of hearings ahead before the Judge in Maricopa County rules and the Tucson case is a separate case to be handled by a Tucson Judge.

Man accused of killing two young Tucson girls in court
 
Friday, August 23rd:
*Evidentiary Hearing (@ pm PT) – AZ – Isabel Mercedes Celis (6) (April 21, 2012, Tucson, found Mar. 3, 2017, Id’ed Mar. 31, 2017) & Maribel Victoria Gonzales (13) (June 4, 2014, Tucson, found June 6, 2014, id’ed June 20, 2014) – *Christopher Matthew Clements aka Damion James Johnson (36) indicted (9/15/18) & arraigned (9/24/18) with 2 counts of 1st degree murder, 2 counts of kidnapping a minor under 15, 2 counts of 2nd degree burglary, 1 count of theft by controlling stolen property, 1 count of trafficking in stolen property & 14 counts of sexual exploitation of minors. Plead not guilty. $2M cash only bond. DA will seek DP.
Court hearings from 9/15/18 to 2/11/19 reference post #995 here: Found Deceased - AZ - Isabel Mercedes Celis, 6, Tucson, 20 April 2012 *Arrest* #26
4/15/19 Update: Defense tries to get charges of murder & kidnapping dismissed. Next hearing on 6/14.
6/14/19 Update: For Fraud, burglary & theft next hearing on 8/16 & 8/23. 7/28/19: On murder/kidnapping case no further dates.
8/16/19 Update: For fraud, burglary & theft next hearing on 8/23.
 
Fraud, burglary & theft charges:

8/23/2019 8:30 Evidentiary Hearing

11/1/2019 13:30 Evidentiary Hearing

11/8/2019 9:00 Evidentiary Hearing


link: Criminal Court Case Information - Case History



Can't find anything on the murder case in Pima County - case # is 2018-3978-001 Anyone??

Also!! There is a co-defendant in this Fraud, burglary & theft charges. She is Melissa Stark charged (10/28/15), indicted (10/4/17) & arraigned (11/13/17) with 2nd degree fraud, 2 counts of 2nd degree burglary & 1 count of 3rd degree theft. I shall add her to my notes. Never noticed her before this.... :rolleyes:
 
Niner said:
Fraud, burglary & theft charges:

8/23/2019 8:30 Evidentiary Hearing

11/1/2019 13:30 Evidentiary Hearing

11/8/2019 9:00 Evidentiary Hearing


link: Criminal Court Case Information - Case History

Can't find anything on the murder case in Pima County - case # is 2018-3978-001 Anyone??

Also!! There is a co-defendant in this Fraud, burglary & theft charges. She is Melissa Stark charged (10/28/15), indicted (10/4/17) & arraigned (11/13/17) with 2nd degree fraud, 2 counts of 2nd degree burglary & 1 count of 3rd degree theft. I shall add her to my notes. Never noticed her before this.... :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

@Niner:
Melissa Stark was Clements fiancee and mother of their child together. They have a long criminal history together -- everything from him pimping for her to theft and burglary. I believe charges against Stark were eventually dropped.

Christopher Clements arrest report for pimping, child abuse

Murder suspect Christopher Clements had multiple run-ins with Tucson police
 
Seattle1 said:
@Niner:
Melissa Stark was Clements fiancee and mother of their child together. They have a long criminal history together -- everything from him pimping for her to theft and burglary. I believe charges against Stark were eventually dropped.

Christopher Clements arrest report for pimping, child abuse

Murder suspect Christopher Clements had multiple run-ins with Tucson police
Click to expand...

hmmm.... I should have known that! :rolleyes: Thank you for the reminder. Guess I'm following too many cases to keep this one straight! o_O

So for the fraud, etc. charges I have 11 /1 as next hearing.
Anyone know "when" next court hearing for the murder charges will be? Guess it will depend on the Judge's ruling on the fraud charges.
Pima County is screwy, so can't find anything there.

TIA!
 
Niner said:
hmmm.... I should have known that! :rolleyes: Thank you for the reminder. Guess I'm following too many cases to keep this one straight! o_O

So for the fraud, etc. charges I have 11 /1 as next hearing.
Anyone know "when" next court hearing for the murder charges will be? Guess it will depend on the Judge's ruling on the fraud charges.
Pima County is screwy, so can't find anything there.

TIA!
Click to expand...
The court records for this guy are so complicated that it may be best to track the court filings separately by county (Mariposa, Pima, etc). Also, several of his theft and also child support charges in Pima County were filed in Pima Superior Court (different case look up site). It's a mess.....:eek:
 
Sorry - didn't mean fraud case - but burglary charges.... :rolleyes:

My speakers aren't working today - is there anything important in those 2 videos you posted Seattle1?? TIA! :)
 
Clements takes the stand; results could impact murder cases

August 23, 2019

TUCSON, Ariz. - The man charged with killing 6 year old Isabel Celis and 13 year old Maribel Gonzalez was on the witness stand In Maricopa County Court this morning.

Christopher Clements is testifying in a hearing in burglary and fraud cases in Maricopa County but the hearing results could have a bearing in the Tucson murder cases.

At issue is whether legal documents were improperly seized from his jail cell, including during a search to secure evidence in the murder cases.

[...]

His attorneys are trying to convince Judge Susanna Pineda that was unacceptable interference with his attorney client relationship that gave Maricopa County authorities an unfair look at legal strategies for Clements and his lawyers.

Clements' lawyers claim law enforcement may have been able to root through notes that will give away legal strategies. Clements says now he feels inhibited helping his attorneys with his case.

“Before I never really had any reservations about my cell being searched they flipped through legal work here and there but nothing of this magnitude. Nothing like this. It’s made it very difficult to put pencil to paper the way I did before.”

[...]

A new development broke in the case by mid morning that could remove one of Clements attorneys from his case. Attorneys for the Maricopa County Attorney’s office asked the judge to remove attorney Nikolas Forner because of the prospect he may become a witness who would testify about how long Clements was deprived of his legal documents and the effect on the case.

Pima County judge recessed the hearing until 1:30 so all sides could research the issue.
 
Tucson child murders: Could Maricopa cases knock out evidence?

August 22, 2019

TUCSON, Ariz. - The man charged with killing 6 year old Isabel Celis and 13 year old Maribel Gonzalez will be back in court tomorrow—-but in Maricopa County Superior Court over evidence in an unrelated case.

[...]

Christopher Clements is facing fraud and burglary charges in Maricopa County. His attorneys are trying to convince a judge there to throw out evidence seized when Maricopa County Detectives served a search warrant on Clements jail cell.

They were serving the warrant for Tucson Police Detectives searching for items like photos of the Celis family house.

Last week a now retired detective said they did find pictures in what’s called a legal box---a collection of sensitive legal documents inmates like Clements are allowed to have. Authorities are not supposed to look at the items inside unless they are specified in the search warrant. The detectives collected what was in the warrant but thought the safe thing to do was take the whole box including papers related to the Maricopa cases, and send it to a special attorney for review.

Veteran defense attorney Mike Piccarreta is not involved in this case, but we asked him if the dispute over Maricopa County evidence could affect the murder cases here.

He says it could.

“Maricopa and Pima County worked jointly on behalf of the State of Arizona; so the actions of the investigators up there will bind the State of Arizona and Pima County. The question becomes, did they exceed the scope of the warrant? Did they execute it lawfully, was the warrant over broad?”

Piccarreta says it was a good move to request a neutral attorney to review what’s in the legal box but it would have also been smart to call a judge and get a second search warrant to allow seizing the box.

Either way, Piccarreta expects a Pima County hearing on what evidence can be used in the murder cases but the Maricopa judge’s ruling could influence how the Pima County judge rules.

ETA: In testimony, Clements also hid contents under his mattress so this is more of his antics to confuse the what was covered in the warrant. Clements always knows what he's doing when scamming. He's also been alleged to use other inmates pin number when using the phones in prison so his communication is not detected. MOO
 
Man accused of killing two young Tucson girls in court

Aug 16, 2019

This hearing was mainly about evidence in a burglary case against Christopher Clements but late Friday evidence issues appeared that involve murder charges against Clements in the death of Isabel Celis.

Clements is trying to throw out evidence found in a search of his jail cell in Maricopa County. It mainly involves a burglary case in Maricopa County but there is a Tucson connection. Clements' attorneys in Maricopa are challenging a search that led to authorities looking through a box inmates are allowed to have to keep legal documents away from the eyes of prosecutors.

Corrections officers are allowed to look for contraband like weapons but must ignore legal material. But Maricopa County Attorney Detective Jan Butcher did a search of Clements cell at the request of Tucson Police. They were looking for items that could tie Clements to Isabel Celis murder, including a photo of the Celis family house.

[...]

Clements' attorney challenged Detective Butcher for seizing all the contents of Clements legal box, beyond the items called for in the Tucson Warrant.

Detective Butcher stopped short of describing the photos other than to say there were a lot of them in that legal box.
 
Search warrants released for Clements' Maricopa cell

January 31, 2019

The Pima County Attorney's Office released documents revealing information about the warrants that were issued in June of 2018. They were for his Maricopa County Jail cell.

Prior to his transfer to Pima County, investigators found a box of legal documents.

They were searching for books, drawings, diagrams, letters, and photographs, including a bible with photos of the exterior of the Celis home.

The search warrant also reveal Clements made mention of knowing where a possible murder weapon was located, but he didn't provide information.

ETA: Take note Clements also hid items inside a Bible
 
Seattle1 said:
Man accused of killing two young Tucson girls in court

Aug 16, 2019

This hearing was mainly about evidence in a burglary case against Christopher Clements but late Friday evidence issues appeared that involve murder charges against Clements in the death of Isabel Celis.

Clements is trying to throw out evidence found in a search of his jail cell in Maricopa County. It mainly involves a burglary case in Maricopa County but there is a Tucson connection. Clements' attorneys in Maricopa are challenging a search that led to authorities looking through a box inmates are allowed to have to keep legal documents away from the eyes of prosecutors.

Corrections officers are allowed to look for contraband like weapons but must ignore legal material. But Maricopa County Attorney Detective Jan Butcher did a search of Clements cell at the request of Tucson Police. They were looking for items that could tie Clements to Isabel Celis murder, including a photo of the Celis family house.

[...]

Clements' attorney challenged Detective Butcher for seizing all the contents of Clements legal box, beyond the items called for in the Tucson Warrant.

Detective Butcher stopped short of describing the photos other than to say there were a lot of them in that legal box.
Click to expand...

From listening to 8/16/19 testimony, the search warrant-- not authored by Detective Butcher, included books,notes, letters, photos, diagrams and drawings.

Detective Butcher testified she searched box for illegal contraband, and noted a large number of photos - some attached to [legal] documents. She did not want to rummage the contents after looking for contraband and delivered the legal bag to a special master to look for items per search warrant.

Essentially, Clements Defense attorney hammered Detective Butcher for not doing the special masters job (i.e., going through the box herself in jail cell and reading all the docs and/or items to seize under the warrant).

IMO - Clements is again trying to use a technicality to aid his defense.

ETA: Former Detective Butcher testimony to be continued -- she was not avail on 8/23. Other witnesses were expected to testify on 8/23.
 
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