It's a key question in any homicide case: How did the victim die?
In the killing of Twin Falls teenager Dale Miller, it's a question that law enforcement authorities refuse to answer, even though two men have been in jail for more than a month on first-degree murder charges.
Since then, graphic rumors have abounded on the death of Miller, who was discovered Sept. 12 in a barrel in a Twin Falls garage. With no word from authorities, mystery endures.
Twin Falls County Prosecutor Grant Loebs has known for weeks how the 18-year-old died, but he sees no reason to clear up the mystery.
"There isn't a right-to-know issue here," said Loebs, who routinely tells police to say nothing about the crimes they investigate and seldom makes public statements about the cases he prosecutes.
A tight ship
If Loebs does make public comments these days, it's usually the bare minimum and only what's available in open court records. His deputy prosecutors are told not to speak with the media.
And even the court record is kept to a minimum because of Loeb's favored legal mechanism. Prosecutors can either file charges and state their case to a judge in a preliminary hearing or seek an indictment from a grand jury. The difference: The preliminary hearing is open to the public; grand jury proceedings are done in secret.
In each of the past 16 homicide cases Loebs has handled he has opted for the grand jury.
Twin Falls County runs a much tighter ship than most when it comes to making information public about criminal proceedings. In Ada County, police have more liberty to release details about homicides to the public. In Payette County the prosecutor is comfortable revealing facts of a case as long as the release doesn't interfere with a police investigation.
Loebs' style is a matter of debate in criminal justice circles.
"The prosecutor and I have a philosophical difference about what should and shouldn't be released to the media," Twin Falls Police Chief Jim Munn said last month after Twin Falls County deputies took custody of John Horonzy from a Missouri prison. "I would like to release this information, but in these cases, he's the boss."
For almost two years Munn was kept from discussing Horonzy's February 2006 first-degree murder indictment stemming from a 1997 strangling of a Twin Falls waitress he was dating. After the grand jury indictment was handed up, Loebs asked a judge to seal the court record, ensuring that the existence of the indictment would be kept secret.
"I don't call a press conference every day," Loebs said. "I don't run out and scream on the steps of the Courthouse, 'Hey, look I've charged somebody.'"
Even now that Horonzy is in Twin Falls County jail and the seal has been lifted, Loebs continues to demand that Munn not discuss the case.
That bears a sharp contrast to the way Ada County prosecutors allow police officers who investigate the crimes and make the arrests describe their cases to the public, even if a grand jury has been involved.
In April 2007 when Ada County Sheriff Gary Raney held a press conference in which he revealed initial details about a suspected serial killer, the prosecutor did not see a need to even get involved.
"Law enforcement can say things that I can't say," said Ada County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Roger Bourne. "Sometimes we talk about things and sometimes I will give them advice but I can't tell them not toâ€-throw press conferences. These guys don't work for me. I am not in a position to tell them what to do."
The killings in that case were so heinous - the Boise victim was shot twice and then dragged into a pond - that Bourne considered seeking the death penalty. Trial for the accused killer, who was already in custody, is pending.
Payette County prosecutor Brian Lee is even more open before a trial. When police stop actively investigating, Lee's ready to disclose his records about a homicide to the public.
There are exceptions, Lee says, but his philosophy is to be open with the public unless it materially conflicts with the investigation.
All for a fair trial
Loebs says one reason he stays silent before trial is out of fairness to the defendant.
On Wednesday - 42 days after Miller's body was found - Loebs denied a Times-News public records request for documents listing Miller's cause of death. His reason: If people knew how Miller was killed it would enflame them so much that the defendants would not get a fair trial.
"That's always a possibility," said Boise attorney Debora Kristensen, who specializes in media law. "But the public has the right to know about horrendous crimes committed in their jurisdiction. It's not up to the prosecutor to play mom and pop."
University of Idaho criminal law Prof. Alan F. Williams said it's "unfortunate" that the cause of death is not listed in court records, where it would be accessible to the public. But Loebs might in fact incite the public and thus violate a rule of ethics if he were to say how Miller died.
Moreover, a judge could determine that the information had caused the general public to develop a prejudice in the case and, if defense attorneys asked, might order the trial moved elsewhere, costing taxpayers more money.
"I don't think they (prosecutors) have to tell you cardiac arrest, multiple stabbings," Williams said, listing causes of death. "Defense attorneys have a lot more leeway to talk about a case. Prosecutors have to be a lot more cautious."
Loebs's quiet style has not hurt his conviction rate: He's won 16 homicide cases in a row. In fact, Loebs conviction rate has been so strong voters have elected him twice since he was appointed to the position in 1997. In prior years, the homicide conviction rate in Twin Falls County was significantly lower.
Choosing his words
Loebs has drawn a firm line by refusing to give a cause for Miller's death. But he's crossed that line in the past. He's stood up at pre-trial press conferences, added coroner's reports to the public record and has used passionate language to denounce killings.
"This is a horrendous crime," Loebs said at the 2005 arraignment of Jim Junior Nice, whom Loebs had charged with three counts of murder. The fact that Nice had poisoned the children's pudding was made public at the time of his arrest. Nice pleaded guilty before trial in a plea deal that allowed him to avoid the death penalty.
And in May 2001, Loebs announced the arrest of Orlando Gonzales-Leon, 22, in Nogales, Ariz. Authorities also released an investigators' report following an autopsy that showed the victim was shot numerous times, even after death. Loebs still got a conviction; Gonzales-Leon got 25 years to life.
A cause of death is normally made known in a police affidavit, which the prosecutor screens and files with the court. Loebs said he spoke up in those cases to put the public at ease, letting them know authorities had tracked down a killer.
In the case of John Henry McElhiney and Cameron Watts, however, Loebs argued that the cause of death was not included in the probable cause affidavit because it was filed before the autopsy was performed. He also cites state laws that prohibit a prosecutor from commenting on grand jury proceedings. But Loebs knew preliminary autopsy findings before the grand jury met.
On both the preliminary findings and the autopsy report, Loebs has denied public records requests. In his response, Loebs cited laws and rules on grand jury limitations and rights to a fair trial.
Matt EchoHawk, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union in Boise, suggested that prosecutors who want to keep things from the public hide behind an expansive interpretation of professional regulations and the law.
"Maybe it's a convenient excuse for them when they say they want to preserve the right to a fair trial" he said.
Silence on the facts
Which leads back to the facts known in Dale Miller's case, and that's not very much.
McElhiney's girlfriend, Rachel Madrid, told police she saw him and Watts carry Miller wrapped in bed linen after what sounded like a fight in another room. Her statement, made after her arrest on a probation violation, is the only evidence in the public record. She faces no charges except the probation violation.
Neither of the defendants' attorneys returned repeated phone calls.
Loebs will likely continue pursuing indictments of murder defendants by a grand jury, which he calls the most practical, effective way of showing probable cause.
As for what the public doesn't know at this point, Loebs says no case is ever fully revealed.
The public knows "that a man was killed," Loebs said.
"They know that two people have been charged with that killing. They know that a grand jury process was held. They never know all the evidence."
Cass Friedman can be reached at 735-3241 or
cfriedman@magicvalley.com.
