[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ARIZONA

[Rick Halperin]

Aug. 13



ARIZONA:

Peoria woman who faced death penalty sues after case thrown out

A Peoria woman who once faced the death penalty is suing authorities who had 
accused her of murdering a 4-month-old boy.

After years of fighting for her innocence, a Maricopa County Superior Court 
judge last year dismissed the murder case against Lisa Randall after an expert 
debunked the county medical examiner's findings.

Police, prosecutors and medical examiners had said the baby died after 
suffering blunt-force trauma to the head and that Randall was responsible.

Randall, 50, was babysitting Dillon Uutela in April 2007 when she said she 
found the baby pale and unresponsive on her living room floor. Randall said she 
had placed Dillon on a blanket as she tended to other children at her home 
day-care. Now, Randall is suing Peoria, Maricopa County, the County Attorney's 
Office, former County Attorney Andrew Thomas, a deputy county attorney, a 
county medical examiner and a Peoria police detective who investigated Dillon's 
death for compensatory damages and attorneys' fees.

The Peoria mother of 5, whose daughter and ex-husband are plaintiffs in the 
suit, sought $12.6 million in a January notice of claim, which is a precursor 
to a lawsuit.

Peoria and the county would not comment on the suit Wednesday. Thomas did not 
return messages. An attorney representing Randall also did not return calls.

Police reports and court records show Randall has maintained her innocence 
since her first conversation with a Peoria police detective four years ago. She 
had questioned whether Dillon's high fever in the days before his death, or 
perhaps a recent shot, might have made him ill.

"I knew I could stand before God, and I know I didn't do anything wrong," 
Randall previously told The Republic.

But officials were troubled by what they believed to be evidence of abuse, 
specifically a fatal blow. Eight months after Dillon's death, a grand jury 
indicted Randall, and police arrested her. Prosecutors sought the death 
penalty.

For 2 years, Randall's future seemed grim.

She spent more than 6 months in jail.

Her attorney sought medical experts who said Dillon's illness might have caused 
the injuries noted by county medical examiners. The experts said a crack in 
Dillon's skull mentioned in the autopsy report was natural for an infant and 
that brain swelling could have caused skull fractures and bleeding.

"I can see this as a not-guilty verdict at trial," Superior Court Judge Gary 
Donahoe said in 2008 after hearing 2 days of testimony from detectives and 
doctors. "And even if they find her guilty, I'm not sure I've got substantial 
evidence that this is a death-penalty case."

The questions would continue. The case was briefly dismissed in 2008 before the 
County Attorney's Office again filed charges.

Donahoe ruled there wasn't enough evidence to keep Randall in jail, and she was 
released with electronic monitoring.

2 years later, then-County Attorney Thomas resigned to run for attorney general 
and Rick Romley took over as the county's interim top prosecutor. Romley asked 
for a review of death-penalty cases.

A deputy county attorney soon filed a motion to withdraw a recommendation that 
Randall face the death penalty.

Then new information from an expert that prosecutors had consulted would change 
everything.

"I cannot support the cause of death as being blunt-force trauma of the head 
and neck," an Oregon medical examiner wrote in a June 2010 letter to 
prosecutors. "Not only is the conclusion unsupported, but I feel most of the 
observations leading to that conclusion are in error."

A prosecutor filed a motion to dismiss the case after a panel of county 
attorneys voted 8-0 that there was no reasonable likelihood of conviction.

Weeks later, Superior Court Judge Michael Kemp made a rare decision. He ruled 
the case against Randall be permanently tossed.

"The interests of justice will be served by a dismissal with prejudice," Kemp 
wrote.

But Randall was left with a significant burden.

Her legal bills totaled nearly $220,000, and she had lost her husband and her 
home, according to a January notice of claim.

"It devastated my entire family," Randall said.

"I've always believed in the system, always had people in my life who were in 
law enforcement. They didn't want the truth. They wanted a win," she said. 
"When this is all over I'm taking my family and leaving. This is not my home 
anymore."

(source: Arizona Republic)