Barry Morphew was booked into the Chaffee County Jail on three charges, including First Degree Homicide. Courtesy photo.
The People versus Barry Morphew murder hearing continues today, as directed by the District 11 Court order issued on Aug. 4. The hearing runs all day Aug. 9, Aug. 10, then again on Aug. 23 and 24, 2021.
Morphew is charged with murder in the disappearance of his wife, Suzanne Morphew, on Mother’s Day 2020. As indicated in a July 22 clarification, the court does not intend to broadcast the court proceedings, as has been done for prior preliminary stages of the court proceedings.
While the court has used WebEx broadcasts during the COVID-19 pandemic, the order, issued by Dist. 11 Chief Judge Patrick Murphy, states the court’s decision is based on two areas of concern. First, it does not believe that it has the legal authority to do a broadcast of the actual continuing hearings; per Colorado statutes only certain pretrial proceedings can be broadcast.
“This case has generated enormous public interest and broadcasting the proceedings via WebEx would likely result in thousands of people viewing the hearing. This would seem to thwart the purpose of limiting expanded media coverage in criminal cases,” wrote Murphy. “Those purposes include not interfering in the rights of the parties to a fair trial, not detracting from the decorum and dignity of the court, and not creating adverse effects that would be greater than those created by traditional media coverage.”
Barry and Suzanne Morphew in better times. Family photo.
Judge Murphy noted that in a prior pre-trial hearing at least 1,000 devices logged into the WebEx broadcast and numerous “inappropriate” comments were posted in the chat function.
He added that the state has ended the COVID-19 emergency health order and that the court is the trier of fact, and needs to focus its attention on the proceedings. The courtroom can only accommodate 24 people due to COVID-19 social distancing requirements.
That said, District 11 court has arranged for a live stream of the hearing into the main hall of the Chaffee County Fairgrounds located at 10165 CR 120 in Poncha Springs.
Due to COVID-19 social distancing requirements, the hall will have a maximum attendance of 50 people with a preference to the media and the Morphew/Moorman families. The public will not have access to the live stream.
The Court order concerning trial attendance:
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