Deceased/Not Found MD - Heather Grogg, 33, & Danielle Tyler, 18, Carroll County, 6 April 2020 *arrest*

Around page 8 of this thread there was some discussion about tattoos. Stattlich1 decoded some of MM's tattoos as white supremicist.

Deceased/Not Found - MD - Heather Grogg, 33, & Danielle Tyler, 18, Carroll County, 6 April 2020 *arrest*

 

Glad he’s been caught honestly how many more lives do you think he would take in his lifetime?
pretty disturbing to see someone so detached- white supremacy, selling and using the worst drugs, weapons, killing over money and said drugs, killing witnesses, killing young ex girlfriend... I don’t think he’d stop.
And it’s not based off some compulsion like a serial killer but rather just absolutely cold and calculated choices he made. Hope he gets locked up forever and gets zero protection in prison.

Rant over/

 

Excellent rant, thank you. I have to say my big worry in this case is MM will pin the killing of JR on JB or DS. Then he will pin the killing of DT on DS which seems obvious based on what is in the MSM. Then he will pin the killing of HG on JS or NB who are both (in MSM) accused of pulling the trigger. Poor MM was just out looking to get high when all this crime happened around him, and he walks on a short sentence. If that happens we all know more people will end up dead when he gets out of prison.

 

I think MM is quite a manipulator - he convinced all the players to implicate themselves in horrendous, unnecessary crimes to satisfy his own ego, to prove himself to be gangster. He misled Dani and led her to her execution, all the while shacked up with another woman. He apparently still isn't talking about where Dani and Heather's remains are, maybe hoping for a deal?

I wouldn't be surprised if he/his attorney tried to turn this all back on the others, or maybe an insanity plea? Whatever it takes to get as little blame as possible. I hope the Prosecutor can, at the very least, put MM away for life plus, so he can never hurt another human being or their family. You are right, Curious Q, he surely will cause serious harm again.

All my own opinion only

 

Has anybody seen anything about preliminary hearings for MM, DS, JB or any of the others? They have all had hearings before the Magistrate (I don't know what that's called in WV) and next step is preliminary hearings for indictment, as I understand it.

Now that I think about it, did AprilB have her Magistrate hearing?

 

----------------------------------
Sort of answering my own question. Article dated 9/17/2020:
...David Ray Sanford Jr., of Westminster, Md., was arraigned Wednesday evening on one count of first-degree murder in connection with the death of Danielle Tyler, 18, of Taneytown, according to Berkeley County Magistrate Court records...

...Tyler's body was allegedly burned in a large fire pit outside the trailer, according to a complaint filed against Sanford by Jefferson County Sheriff's Deputy Sgt. Steven Holz...
RSBM

Man charged in W.Va. slaying accused of also killing witness
Note: This link leads to a sight with a paywall if you have exceeded your limit on number of articles.


My own opinion only

 

Makes me ill.

 

Not a lawyer, but I think in WV a preliminary hearing means a Magistrate judge has to decide if they have reason to hold you in jail. The next step is either a trial or a hearing in front of a grand jury to decide if the case goes to trial. For all involved here they have had preliminary hearings in Magistrate Court and cases were transferred to Circuit Court for grand jury review. The Jefferson County grand jury was scheduled to start Tuesday, Sept 15 so I was expecting some MSM news this week.

Maybe "preliminary hearing" means different things in different states and different courts, but the WV newspapers called the Magistrate hearings preliminary hearings.

AprilB had a hearing in Magistrate court in Berkeley County on 5/21/2020. It was briefly mentioned in this article:
Witnesses add more details in three murders

"Police learned that Merrell was staying with a new girlfriend they identified as April Lynn Braner, 37. A search warrant was conducted by the FBI at Braner’s home as well as what was identified as a “gutted trailer” that was a former biker clubhouse across the street from her home, Holz said.

Testifying during Braner’s preliminary hearing on May 21 in Berkeley County, Holz said details about how Grogg and Tyler were killed..."

 

Almost a lawyer and I looked it up and WV is similar in the calandra of criminal cases— below is how it goes:

the complaint- written and sworn statement contains alleged crime and relevant facts. If there is probable cause then it turns into the charging document and initiated the criminal proceedings.

arrest warrant/summons- depending on crime type your are told about your alleged crime/arrested/called to court

initial appearance- before a magistrate- given bail or renamed to custody.

probable cause finding- in front of the magistrate - if found the case moved to circuit court

grand jury- after your preliminary hearing/probable cause finding, if the magistrate passed it up to circuit court, then a grand jury will be gathered and of all agree to An indictment, then the defendant is indicted and goes to trial-

that is lay person talk and there is a lot of in between that the lawyers deal with ect but those are the main processes to criminal court procedure.

 

RSBM

also to add a little bit of Info the probable cause finding is also known as a preliminary hearing, prosecution typicall lay out the evidence so far and case so the defense can cross examine and also bring forth witnesses ect. In these cases, all of those arrested (except ED—??) have had their prelims and the judge found enough cause to send the case for grand jury for indictment.. I would be shocked if any of them get there charges dismissed at this point forward. I hope someone brings charges against ED I’ve said it multiple times- why is she not being held accountable for DTs murder? And HGs?

 

Best of luck at the finish line for law school! I don't know much about you but you have shared enough about your journey that I feel your strength and perseverance. Whether as an attorney working 1 on 1 with clients or a future of speaking about or writing about your experience I know your story will inspire others to realize there is a different path than a lifetime of addiction.

We appreciate you and your insights here on Websleuths. Now go study!

 

BBM

Wouldn't charges against ED have to come from Carroll County, MD? I don't know how involved Carroll Co. Sheriff is/has been in the investigation.


Thank you @CuriousQuiet1 and @Mayjunejuly for helping to clarify the legal process in WV. We appreciate your research and contributions!

All my own opinion

 

My opinion/interpretation of ED's preliminary hearing was exactly as you say. The judge in WV did not say she was not an accessory, the judge said if she committed a crime it was not in Jefferson County, WV so the court there has no jurisdiction to charge her. The judge said ED's involvement happened in Carroll County so she should be tried there.

From: Witnesses add more details in three murders

...Magistrate Vicki D’Angelo found insufficient probable cause to support two accessory to murder charges filed against Day....

D’Angelo, evaluating West Virginia criminal law, ruled that Day could not be held accountable for accessory to Riddle’s murder because his murder occurred in Jefferson County and not in Carroll County, Maryland, where Day’s Westminster apartment is. Any such charges against Day, if any would be filed, would have to be brought in Carroll County, D’Angelo determined.

 

I hope the wheels of justice are turning in Carroll County. I actually have a lot of faith in the investigators and DA’s office. I welcome opinions from others who know more than me.
I know this is complicated but no one deserves to be brutally murdered...

 

I believe there is more to come. Such a complicated case is going to take time to put together.

My own opinion only.

 

What bothers me is any possible accessory to murder charge in Carroll County for ED requires the police and the DA in Carroll County to commit resources to a murder that happened and was investigated in another state. I'm not sure Carroll County LE will have the money or the manpower to do that, especially given the current climate of economic problems.

MOO, if ED handed out rubber gloves after JR was stabbed I cut her some slack for trying to protect her home and her kids from LE that she sees as a threat. But bringing 2 little kids to a trailer where you know 2 innocent people will be murdered while your kids are there... I can't forgive that. Anybody that makes that kind of a premeditated decision (the trailer was well over an hour drive away) whether on drugs or not should never be given custody of her children again. MOO.

Someone posted here earlier that maybe ED was doing what she could within the framework of living with a drug dealer that she was afraid of and being manipulated by. I have sympathy for that enough to give her leniency, if that is what was happening.

 

Just read a few things on social media from Danielle’s mom that JS’s gf who knew the murders were gonna take place won’t be charged because she wasn’t present and that there’s no law for that so she is trying to pass “Danielle’s Law”. It would mean that if you know a murder is going to take place and don’t say anything you are just as guilty as the person committing the murder. What happened to guilty by association???

 

Isn't that "accessory before the fact" which has the same punishment as actually killing someone? From Wikipedia:

"All U.S. jurisdictions have effectively eliminated the distinction between accessories before the fact and principals, either by doing away with the category of "accessory before the fact" entirely or by providing that accessories before the fact are guilty of the same offense as principals... It is now possible to be convicted as an accessory before the fact even though the principal has not been convicted or (in most jurisdictions) even if the principal was acquitted at an earlier trial."

Accessory (legal term) - Wikipedia

 

For the first case of JR- yes charges would need to be brought from CC, MD—

however, she helped lure DT & HG down to WV to be killed. ED presumably knew what was happening, and also brought her kids because they had no one to watch them since they were going to kill HG... the fact she walked the kids into the bathroom, closed the door and turned on a faucet - not once calling anyone to help the girls-she knew her husband was killing DT- so I believe there’s enough probable cause to charge her as an accessory in that case. They just arraigned DS on the DT murder so maybe we will see some charges on her going forward I hope so.

 

Does anyone have news about court dates, arrests, or other new info? Things have been pretty quiet lately, so I assume LE is working diligently to put together a solid case.

JMO