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8 a MurDerer Ten TIMeS over After the arrest of Doody and Garcia and the release of the Tucson Four, the temple murder case progressed with fewer headlines and less public drama. Doody and Garcia faced charges in juvenile court and remained incarcerated in the juvenile detention center. Doody’s court-appointed defense attorney was Peter Balkan; Garcia’s was Luis Calvo. Both were highly regarded Phoenix lawyers with experience in death-penalty cases. Balkan was known for taking on big cases in which juvenile offenders appeared likely to be transferred to adult court. As part of the pretrial proceedings, Balkan and Calvo moved to suppress their clients’ confessions. In ruling on their motions, Judge Gregory Martin defined the issue regarding Doody’s confession as “whether the defendant’s will to resist confessing was overborne” by his interrogators . In Garcia’s case, the issue was “whether the defendant’s Miranda right to counsel was violated” when Garcia invoked that right “and then later confessed after further interrogation without counsel present.” In November 1992 Judge Martin denied both motions: prosecutors would be allowed to use Doody’s and Garcia’s taped confessions as evidence against them. Garcia’s girlfriend did not desert him. Michelle Hoover wrote to him at the detention center, enlisting her friend Liz Rhinehart to send the letters when her parents forbade her to communicate with him. Garcia’s parents provided emotional support. His mother, who described her son as “shy, quiet, sensitive, helpful, supportive, and loving,” visited him “as often as allowed by the system.” Doody, whose family lived in Colorado, had a lonelier life behind bars. In his parents’ absence, two other adults received permission to visit him: a family friend and the faculty sponsor of his beloved ROTC program. Like Garcia, Doody got letters from girls at Agua Fria High School, including Hoover’s friend Liz. Both Doody’s and Garcia’s cases were transferred from juvenile court to adult court. The transfer was not unexpected: no judge was likely to allow sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds charged with mass murder to be a Murderer Ten Times over 181 tried as juveniles. Their trials were scheduled for the summer of 1993. Because they were charged with capital offenses, no one pressed for earlier trial dates. Captain White, although he still managed to look for links between the Tucson suspects and the temple, was busy as commander of the MCSO’s criminal investigations unit. In October 1991, just days before White’s task force identified the temple murder weapon and picked up Doody and Garcia, his unit had investigated another local homicide, that of a woman named Alice Marie Cameron. MCSO deputies quickly apprehended a suspect, who confessed and was jailed to await trial on first-degree murder charges. In the temple case, prosecutors decided to offer a plea bargain to Garcia but not to Doody. Their reasons were strictly pragmatic: the State had a stronger case against Garcia than it did against Doody. A footprint matching Garcia’s boots had been found at the crime scene, and property stolen from the temple had been recovered from his bedroom. Moreover, Garcia was ready to testify against Doody, but Doody had shown no willingness to implicate Garcia. And Garcia had clearly admitted his role in the shootings, while Doody had only admitted having been present at the temple when the killings occurred. Under Arizona law, prosecutors are the sole decision makers regarding whether a defendant should be subject to capital punishment. If the prosecutors notify the court that they will seek the death penalty if a defendant is found guilty, the court must allow them to do so; if they do not seek the death penalty, the court may not impose it. Garcia’s plea bargain stipulated that if he pleaded guilty and met certain other conditions, he would not be sentenced to death. Calvo explained the offer to Garcia, including the requirement that he disclose any crimes he had committed after the temple murders. The penalty for not admitting his other crimes would be the loss of the plea bargain. The defense attorney was shocked by his client’s response. On January 4, 1993, Calvo asked for an urgent meeting with Deputy County Attorney Paul Ahler and Assistant County Attorney K. C. Scull. At the meeting Calvo dropped a bombshell: Alex Garcia had participated in another murder shortly before his arrest for the temple killings. Atthetime,CalvodidnotgiveAhlerandScullanyspecifics.Hemerely said there was another murder and he wanted...

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