Federal Appeal 7

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5: THE INTRODUCTION INTO EVIDENCE OF A STATEMENT OBTAINED IN THE ABSENCE OF COUNSEL AT A TIME WHEN REPRESENTATION IS CONSTITUTIONALLY REQUIRED. Sam Griffin was working as an agent for the police in trying to get information from Pease. Sam Griffin's testimony was a fabricated lie in an effort to support the lies that Todd Crawford told, and to aid in an effort to help get a lesser sentence on charges he was facing. Sam Griffin's true involvement as the king pin drug leader was not told to the court, along with his involvement (drug dealing) with Joe Pease. As for the hit list that Pease wrote and Griffin was to take care of, Griffin persuaded Pease to do this, so the DA had some more evidence against Pease. Pease being on anti-depressants were not thinking clearly, and did write it at Sam Griffin's urging. Sam Griffin gathered all the information he could to help the DA. Use of testimony of a prisoner confined with defendant engaged by the prosecution to converse with the defendant and elicit damaging statements from him concerning crimes with which the defendant has been charged without presence of counsel, violated defendant's sixth amendment right to counsel. Sam Griffin testified that on June 11th, 1990, is the first time he took the information he had heard from Richard Pease to the police. Sam Griffin was convicted on June 6, 1990, on drug charges, and a felon in possession of a firearm. Detective Forseth asked Sam Griffin to give his statement involving Richard Pease in writing., Griffin refused because he said he had't fin­ished gathering all the kind of information that he wanted to present to Detective Forseth. This is an indication that Sam Griffin was involved in the act of soliciting information from Richard Pease, purposely for the use of the police and/or to use in a statement for trial. Griffin was involved in trying to solicit specific information that was more than normal conversation. If Sam Griffin was still in the process of gathering infor­mation, he was in fact acting as an agent for the police. Richard Pease signed the form, advising him of his rights when he was arrested. This was that he did not wish to speak to the police or agents there of, without an attorney present. Even though Griffin and DA Paulus deny that a deal was made, the end results show different. Including evidence of false testimony by witness Sam Griffin, by repeating the false statements of Joe Berger and Todd Crawford, which were in the police reports. Detective Forseth gave the police reports to Sam Griffin for Griffin's review 2 weeks prior to Pease's trial. Detective Forseth testified first that he did not give Sam Griffin any police reports, and then later Detective Forseth testi­fied that he did give Sam Griffin a copy of the police reports prior to the trial. The Detective gave the police reports to Griffin prior to trial so he could testify to the evidence in the reports as if Pease told him. Because the state had no evidence against Pease except Todd Crawford's statements, the Detective also gave Griffrin the police reports so he could back up Todd Crawford's statements. Defense Attorney Mares on cross-examination of Detective Forseth, asked if they had received a written statement from Sam Griffin. Detective Forseth responded,It has been Sam Griffin's policy all along not to give written statements. Since when does a witness dictate to the police what he will or won't do? All other witnesses except Sam Griffin gave written statements. Sam Griffin was not just a jailhouse informant who had con­tact with Richard Pease. Sam Griffin knew who was involved by other means, this being Joey Pease who told Keith Soderlin. Sam Griffin was indeed involved in this case. Sam Griffin contends, all he knew about the case was told to him by Richard Pease while they were in jail. He was aware of facts not beause he was told by Richard Pease but because of his connection through Joey Pease, Todd Crawford and Keith Soderlin. Sam Griffin was Joey Pease's drug supplier and Todd Craw­ford's drug supplier all who was dealt through Keith Soderlin. Money that was stolen from Joey Pease's apartment by Mike Fitzgibbons was money owed to Sam Griffin. Sam Griffin testified that Richard Pease was bragging and taking responsibility for the death of Mike Fitzgibbons. This testimony was to add to the credibility of Todd Crawford's test­imony and to cover up Todd Crawford's true involvement. It is also a fact that Joey Pease was arrested for selling drugs. Joey Pease was talking to police in an effort to make a deal for a lesser sentence for his charges. So Joey Pease was giving up his drug suppliers, one being Sam Griffin. Sam Griffin was one of Joey Pease drug suppliers and this information Joey Pease has given to drug enforcement agents. Joey Pease did in fact inform his go between, Keith Soderlin. Keith Soderlin was told of the events with Mike Fitzgibbons. He in turn had contact with San Griffin and told Mr. Griffin all that had transpired with Mike Fitzgibbons and this was all prior to anyone's arrest. In fact it was just days after it happened. Sam Griffin's testimony was a fabricated lie in an effort to support the lies that Todd Crawford told. Sam Griffin's true involvement as the king pin drug leader was never told to the court, nor the jury, along with his involve­ment (drug dealing) with Joey Pease. This was not even given to the defense at the time of trial. Nor was it disclosed in any pre trial evidence. Sam Griffin testified that his brother was murdered. He further went on to say how guns kill people. He also testified that he was only convicted of selling drugs. When Attorney Mares asked Sam Griffin what he was convicted of, District Attorney Paulus objected to this line of questioning. Sam Griffin was not only serving a sentence at the time for selling drugs, which he testified to, but also for a con­victed felon in possession of a firearm. Sam Griffin was also convicted of murder in the past, but had served his time in a mental institution. District Attorney Paulus knowingly allowed Sam Griffin to perjure himself. District Attorney Paulus was the DA who prose­cuted Sam Griffin on the charges he was presently serving the sentence for. Sam Griffin's testimony was a fabricated lie in an effort to support the lies that Todd Crawford told, and to aid in an effort to help him, for a lesser sentence, although the District Attorney and himself deny this fact. Sam Griffin's testimony was to add credibility to Todd Crawford's testimony. Todd Crawford was the only evidence in this case. On February 7, 1992, Sam Griffin was re-sentenced from 28 years to 15 years for his conviction to the four drug charges and possession of a firearm by a felon. According to a newspaper is quoted as saying, Griffin's the state s case. Paulus also told Judge Hawley at the hearing that he never made a written or verbal agreement with Griffin for his help and that Griffin never asked for one. Although, there was no disclosure of the deal that was made, prior to testifying. There was court action in favor of Sam Griffin, just months after Richard Pease was convicted. This deal was on a 28 year sentence for king pin drug dealing with prior offenses. Yet with less than one year served on this sentence, Sam Griffin's original sentence of 28 years was reduced to 15 years. Sighting Sam Griffin's involvement in assisting the state in a major homicide case as the grounds for the sentence reduction.