Programming Alert: Russ Faria

[wiseguy182]

Dateline on NBC will be having an updated, 2 hour look into the latest developments in the Russ Faria case tomorrow night (Friday January 22), including what happened at the retrial. As you may recall, Russ was convicted of his wife's death in the first trial, and the case got quite a lot of discussion on the boards a little while back and there's a lot of people that believe he is innocent.

[Awsi Dooger]

I followed that retrial a couple of months ago, after watching the outrageous actions of prosecutors during the "House on Sumac Drive" episodes that Dateline aired previously. I know I mentioned those episodes here, and on other sites.

In cases like that I really think the original prosecutors should face some type of charges, even if somehow they were able to brainwash the original jury to a guilty verdict. This is one of the most despicable examples I've ever seen of, "Get a conviction at all costs...let the truth fall where it may," even though that is becoming more and more of a widespread truism.

I wouldn't want to be charged with being a woodpecker. Some of these prosecutors would have no trouble arguing it passionately and with no shame, especially if it carried a life sentence.

It's terrific that Faria had justice and logic eventually work in his favor. So many others aren't as fortunate, with creative prosecutors allowed to wreak havoc and the laughable theory of crime scene reconstruction paraded as absolute and accepted by gullible -- and frankly stupid -- jurors.

[Awsi Dooger]

Wow, what an episode. I knew the basics after following the retrial but everything was more glaring on video than in print.

Pamela Hupp is a more diabolical, evil, shameless and guilty party than anyone who was ever condemned along those lines from Unsolved Mysteries. Make no mistake, there are countless jurisdictions throughout the country that would have identified Hupp through a competent examination of the variables and evidence. She would have been tried. She would have been properly convicted.

Unfortunately there is a vast, vast difference in capability and honesty among local police departments, detectives and prosecutors. It is not understood that way. With football teams, for example, you know which ones are well coached and elite and which ones are annually inept. Evaluations are made accordingly. Jurors have no such luxury. They sit down in that box and assume the state is the good guy, that everything from that side deserves a special benefit of a doubt.

As I've long argued, that is ignorant garbage. Detectives and prosecutors thrive in the bully mentality, knowing they face absolutely no consequences. That episode tonight should be aired in every law class, and the case covered by every other major true crime program. It was outrageous across the board. Every trivial or normal variable that should have carried no weight with jurors was lofted as damning toward Faria, while the perfect alibi with four credible witnesses and tons of supporting video and receipt evidence was desperately manipulated by yet another Creative Prosecutor and story telling that should have been laughed out of any courtroom.

People are not skilled at weighing characteristics, their true value. I was stunned by that when I arrived in Las Vegas and even more startled when the internet arrived full blast. Admittedly it drives me crazy, on sports sites and elsewhere. In these cases it has actual consequences. Jurors too often fixate on nothingness and ignore crucial.

The major difference in this case is so much of it is on tape, so we can see the detectives and lead prosecutor swaying the case in the desired direction, and guiding Pamela Hupp no matter the evidence aiming straight at her. I wasn't surprised that a police officer perjured himself in the first trial and claimed photos of the blood in the kitchen didn't exist. That defense attorney was a gem, with more base logic and sense of justice in one DNA molecule than the entire prosecution side combined.

No kidding prosecutor Leah Askey was too petrified to appear on the Dateline program. Likewise the detectives who were in Faria's face with accusations and then tried to twist his alibi witnesses. You might actually have to answer uncomfortable questions and squirm in your seat, instead of happily lobbing wild accusations. We can judge your body language and decide if it's credible or proper. The state enjoys the limelight, that final 5 minutes of almost every true crime program when the word, "Guilty," is trumpeted. I'm convinced so many prosecutors and detectives aspire to that seat in front of a national TV audience that they don't mind ignoring annoying aspects like actual evidence, and right or wrong.

We need multiple series that focus solely on prosecutorial misconduct. I've made that point previously. When it's merely a scattered episode here and there the point bounces and nobody cares. I had to laugh here recently when somebody tried to knock kadrmas for supposedly believing nobody was guilty. Actually, kadrmas had a far superior grasp of probability and variables than virtually anybody on this forum. Too many posters on sites like this are hang-em-high types who would convict the ham sandwich, let alone indict it. They glee in suffering of others.

That letter on Betsy's computer was so absurd it was like a parody. It reminded me of so many simplistic schemers who have no idea where to stop. I've seen that type of thing so many times, including on this forum. When we had the marathon Richard McCoy thread there was a poster who claimed he had some type of interview with an authority on the D.B Cooper case. Then he proceeded to type out everything that guy supposedly said. I nearly fell on the floor in a seizure of laughter. It was a point by point recitation of what the supposed interviewer had been posting in the thread. He tried to apply exponentially more value by attributing the identical ideas to someone else, therefore boosting his stature. I told him don't bother. I figured it out within two paragraphs and called him on the fraud. When the interview is legitimate you don't get everything you want. There will be surprises and oddities and stuff you would never think of. Likewise if that Betsy letter had been legit. It would have been Betsy's input, not everything Pamela Hupp had assigned to her, and so wonderfully convenient including a final sentence directing attention to the police if anything happened to her.

Pamela Hupp is not a lesbian, per another bizarre and self serving story she told. She is a wrongfully freed murderer.

The tremendous defense attorney deserves mention. His name is Joel Schwartz.

[Awsi Dooger]

I'd love to see more examples like this:

http://worldtruth.tv/for-the-first-t...-innocent-man/

Ten days in jail. What a farce. You can see why Creative Prosecutors will say anything or exclude anything. No risk. No threat of consequences.

Having a prosecutor license is like an invitation to lie, cheat and mislead. I'm worried the percentages of unethical types will only increase. After all, journalism exploded in popularity in the '70s due to Woodward and Bernstein. In this era with one true crime program after another and so many prosecutors taking a bow at the end of the episode it is naturally going to draw students to that field.

When they get there, the necessity is to win. That's why Leah Askey in this case doesn't care in the slightest if she is sitting across from the potential murderer in Pam Hupp during those back room sessions that Dateline showed. That state has already drawn its lot with Russ Faria as the guilty party. Now the details don't matter, other than defeating defense lawyer Joel Schwartz and getting a conviction. Askey made that quite clear in those chats with Hupp. It's all about winning.

[Awsi Dooger]

Some other tidbits about this case:

* The transcripts from the original closing statements are unbelievable. That's why Schwartz wisely chose a bench trial and not a jury trial for the retrial. Prosecutor Leah Askey broke every rule of law and ethics in that first trial, using opinion and not evidence in the closing statements, knowing darn well that the judge would allow her to do it and the defense no longer could respond. That's when Askey accused Faria's four card playing friends of being accomplices in the murder plot, even though no charges had been brought against them, the plot she described was so bizarre and complicated there wasn't a fleck of chance it could be true, and the assertions had not been brought up during the case in proper.

Again, this is nothing but a Creative Prosecutor mastering her craft of deception and abuse of the system friendly to her side. That type knows darn well the juries she helps select are full of simplistic types who will fall for any far fetched concoction as long as it sources from the state, which would never dare charge an innocent party.

* Once it was a bench trial, Askey was stuck. The length of trial was literally cut more than in half from the original estimate. The missing segments were Askey flagrantly insulting the Faria alibi. A judge is not going to put up with that fluff, not when directed to him.

* The female judge from the first trial was known to be a friend of Askey and Askey had in fact helped the judge in a civil matter. That's why the judge's rulings were so favorable to the prosecution, including not allowing any mention of Hupp's potential role, and failing to prevent Askey's excess during closing argument.

* Missouri lawyers expected the case would be sent back due to the problems with the original trial. However, they were stunned at how quickly the course was sent back and how soon the retrial was ordered. That indicated the higher state courts found even more problems than were obvious

* One of those problems was an affair between Askey and one of the chief detectives on the case

* Pam Hupp insisted on giving Betsy a ride on the day in question. Betsy was at a chemo session. She already had a friend who was going to drive Betsy home. Pam Hupp was so adamant about doing it herself that she first drove to Betsy's mothers house, believing Betsy was there, even though that house was a full half hour from Hupp's house. When told Betsy was at chemo, Hupp drove there and shooed away the ride from the other friend, who was not happy about it but relented

* If you believe -- as I do -- that Hupp was the true killer, or involved along with other family members, the necessity of giving Betsy the ride that particular day is obvious. She knows Russ is at the weekly card game, providing several hours to kill Betsy and set up Russ as the guilty party. Pam Hupp has already planted the phony letter on Betsy's computer in the preceding days, and likewise took Betsy to the library days earlier and convinced her to sign over the insurance proceeds in Betsy's name, not to Russ or anyone else. It has to be done now, before Betsy changes her mind or mentions that insurance change to anyone else who might raise questions about it

* Pam Hupp knew exactly when she drove up to Betsy's driveway. That is strange in itself. Amidst all the vague estimates that varied an hour or more here or there, Pam Hupp told authorities she pulled into Betsy's driveway between 7:00 and 7:05 PM. That fact is crucial to locals who have studied the case closely. Pam and Betsy did not immediately get out of the car and go inside Betsy's home. Instead, Pam called her husband Mark on her cell phone. The supposed reasoning was flimsy at best. It was after Christmas by a day or two but Pam told Betsy she needed to wish Mark a Merry Christmas on the phone because she hadn't had a chance to do so.

Locals believe that Mark Hupp was probably already in the Faria house, and the phone call was planned as a tipoff from Pam Hupp to her husband that they had arrived and the murder plot could proceed.

Betsy stopped answering her cell phone between 7:21 and 7:26, missing 3 calls from her daughter. It is logical that the attack took place in that time frame. Then Pam Hupp makes the distraction/alibi phone call to Betsy's phone at 7:27, supposedly to tell Betsy she has arrived home, even though cell phone records place Pam Hupp's phone still at the area of Betsy's house

* Russ Faria's slipper that had blood stains from Betsy's blood was found in his closet. But the retrial proved from expert testimony that the slipper was dabbed in the blood, not produced from taking steps. No doubt another sloppy frame attempt from the Hupps that somehow worked in this incredibly incompetent/unethical jurisdiction. The spots of blood on the light frame were also from touch transfer, like from a hand held slipper used to turn on the light switch.

* Unfortunately the state assistant district attorney was backing Askey in the original trial so there is little hope of followup scrutiny on the Hupps at the state level. It's doubtful the federal prosecutors will get involved unless the case exploded in national attention span, far beyond what Dateline accomplished

* I keep thinking about the program Murder Book. If this were a cold case decades old and the murder book(s) suddenly transferred to a new set of eyes, it wouldn't take half a day to identify Pam Hupp as the perpetrator, whether or not she has help from family members or anyone else. There is so much pointing at Hupp it's beyond remarkable, from timing to financial motive to lies regarding the money's destination to cell phone records to bizarre invented lesbian stories to whatever. Also, I can almost guarantee if an evaluation were done on that supposed letter from Betsy on her computer the writing style and grammar would trace back to Pam Hupp, not Betsy Faria. That area of investigation has advanced quite a bit in recent decades.

The only thing not available is direct physical evidence. No kidding. They didn't explore the Hupps at all in the early hours and days. Ignored. Four days after the murder Pam Hupp was asked to provide her clothing. She picked out something from her closet and handed it over. Pam Hupp also claimed she couldn't remember which vehicle she drove that day during the drive with Betsy.

* I can only hope the department changes at the top within normal duration, maybe 10 to 15 years, and a subsequent unstained undaunted group of detectives, prosecutors and district attorney takes a warranted look at the Hupps

[Janice]

http://fox2now.com/2016/02/25/judge-...ance-proceeds/

Judge rules Pam Hupp can keep Betsy Faria’s life insurance proceeds

ST. CHARLES COUNTY, MO (KTVI) - A St. Charles County Judge says Pam Hupp can keep the $150,000 in life insurance proceeds signed over by Betsy Faria. Betsy signed over the policy four days before she was found stabbed to death in her Troy, Missouri home.

Betsy’s husband, Russ Faria, was convicted for the murder in 2013 then acquitted in November 2015 after a re-trial allowed evidence of the life insurance proceeds.

Betsy's daughters, Leah and Mariah Day, sued Hupp for those proceeds, since Pam Hupp told police investigators in a recorded interview that Betsy "wanted her kids to have it."

In Thursday's 26-page court ruling, Judge Ted House said, in part, “It is not possible from this limited evidence to determine with any specificity what Betsy's intent was regarding the insurance proceeds, other than that stated on the beneficiary form."

House points out that the form doesn't say "when or what amounts Pamela was supposed to distribute the money to Leah and Mariah. Betsy left it up to Pamela Hupp." He also pointed out that Pam Hupp could still give the daughters money.

The court found Hupp and her husband, Mark, have co-mingled the funds, but assets would still be available to share with the daughters. The timing of the decision was such a surprise that Betsy's family and their attorneys didn't know about it until they received a call from Fox 2.

Fox 2 News will likely hear more from Betsy's family in the coming days.
In a phone interview, Hupp said it's not a victory to her and that she feels bad for the girls. Hupp said she doesn’t think they wanted to sue, but were pushed into it by their family.

The judgment also ordered Betsy’s daughters to pay more than $2,500 in attorneys’ fees.

[Janice]

Pam Hupp Shoots and Kills Man After Burglary Reported at her Suburban St. Louis Home

by NBC News

Pamela Hupp, a woman central to the Betsy Faria murder case, is in the news again. Just after noon on Tuesday, O'Fallon, Missouri police said they were called to Hupp's home in suburban St. Louis, where she had shot and killed a man whom she said was trying to rob her.

According to police, Hupp said the man had approached her in her driveway and, after a confrontation outside, followed her into her home. She shot him inside the home.

Police said that Hupp called them twice, first to report a burglary in progress and then to say a person had been shot. When police arrived, they found Louis Gumpenberger, 33, dead in the home. The handgun used in the killing was the only weapon recovered, police said.

Hupp was the last known person to see Betsy Faria alive before she was stabbed to death in her home in late December 2011. Three days before the murder, Hupp had become the beneficiary of a $150,000 life insurance policy that Betsy owned. It was a change that no other friend or family member knew about.

Betsy's husband, Russ, was charged with her murder and, at his trial in 2013, Hupp was the state's key witness against him. His conviction was overturned in June 2015. At his retrial, Faria's defense attorney pointed to Hupp as the one with the motive and opportunity to kill Betsy, though she was not called by either side to testify. The judge acquitted Faria at a bench trial.

Related: Wrongfully Convicted Russ Faria Sues Prosecutor and Investigators

In reaction to the defense attorney's statements, Hupp has repeatedly denied any involvement in Betsy Faria's murder. She has never been charged with any crime in connection with the Faria case and the prosecutor considers the case closed.

You can watch Dateline's most recent report on the Faria case below.

[RobinW]

Good God, now it looks like Pam Hupp is being charged with first-degree murder. Apparently, her motive for this shooting was to frame Russ Faria. She planted a note from "Russ" on the victim to make it look he'd hired him to kidnap and murder her before she got shot him in "self-defense"!
http://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/pros...-frame-n636841

Pam Hupp is bat**** crazy and this whole case is absolute travesty! Wrongful convictions are especially egregious when law enforcement is so focused on putting an innocent person away that the real killer winds up murdering someone else.

[LooksLikeCRicci]

Originally Posted by RobinW

Good God, now it looks like Pam Hupp is being charged with first-degree murder. Apparently, her motive for this shooting was to frame Russ Faria. She planted a note from "Russ" on the victim to make it look he'd hired him to kidnap and murder her before she got shot him in "self-defense"!
http://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/pros...-frame-n636841

Pam Hupp is bat**** crazy and this whole case is absolute travesty! Wrongful convictions are especially egregious when law enforcement is so focused on putting an innocent person away that the real killer winds up murdering someone else.

WOW. As I read this, I said, "What. The Actual. F***."

This is crazy. I cannot believe how these events have unfolded. If there's any question of Faria's innocence, I think it's certainly been addressed now.

[Awsi Dooger]

Originally Posted by LooksLikeCRicci

If there's any question of Faria's innocence, I think it's certainly been addressed now.

There was never any question. As I posted months ago, that prosecutor should face charges -- and severe ones.

At this point in life when I have a conviction on something and post multiple times in emotional fashion, I'm going to be correct. An understanding of probability is part learned and part instinct. Las Vegas was a huge help. I saw people immersed in every variable while trying to handicap games. Every player and every stat. Hilarious. Meanwhile, one big picture simple angle was far more effective, no matter how much it frustrated and baffled them, often to profanity.

Not much different in true crime cases. I have to laugh every time one of these threads reaches dozens of pages, like that Zeigler thing. Every ridiculous possibility is dissected, along with the equally low percentage offshoots. Waste of time multiplied by waste of time. Once you take one wrong turn then everything that follows is pure garbage, but that doesn't prevent or discourage this turn and that turn...

I realize my method is not popular and will never be accepted, here or anywhere else. I don't pretend it applies to every case, aimed easily at the truth. I have no idea about Zeigler. But it will never cease to amaze me when every single minuscule angle is cherished and debated, when one major foundational aspect overwhelms.

Of course, to accept my method you often have to accept a huge premise, that crime scene reconstruction is outrageous and insulting. Detectives have no idea who was there, or how many, or what happened. That 's why they offer that basic sentence, "Tell us what happened," upon confession. Minus that confession the prosecutors have no trouble or shame arguing a plausible version to juries, as if it were the irrefutable truth. Since benefit of a doubt slants so sharply toward the state, and crime scene reconstruction holds at least 100x more conventional wisdom value than it's worth, the devastating result too often is wrongful conviction and shattered lives.

At least most of the wrongful convictions accompany plausible argument, and prosecutors who sincerely believe their argument. They are ignorant regarding probability but that's more typical than criminal. This case is one of the ultra rare ones in which the prosecutor Leah Askey was either world class ignorant or equal parts corrupt. As I've emphasized, jurors sadly enter the courtroom with no clue whether the prosecutor and everyone who put together the case are the equivalent of a 13-3 team or 3-13. The blended benefit of a doubt leads to improper verdicts.

I am correct about D.B. Cooper and Jeffrey MacDonald also, even if few will accept it, particularly in the later example. Jeffrey Toobin understood where probability falls in that case and expressed it brilliantly in a single sentence. Many of these cases are simply not physical evidence cases, no matter how desperately they are pursued that way.

The beauty of a Pam Hupp type is that the first plot was so lame yet successful that she didn't recognize how fortunate she was, as opposed to congratulating herself and rationalizing another pea brain scheme would yield similar results. It's mindful of all those spouses who kill once and then again, sometimes again and again. I think I called them professional insurance collectors a few months ago.

BTW, I apologize for using beauty and Pam Hupp in the same sentence.

[Awsi Dooger]

Here are pictures in the aftermath of the death of Pam Hupp's mother in 2013:

http://www.kmov.com/story/33053460/n...aise-questions

She supposedly fell to her death accidentally but it looks almost laughable, given the bent bars and tiny window for the 5-7, 200+ pound woman to fall through. Maybe she was an aspiring contortionist in the minutes before her demise.

As always, Pam Hupp doesn't think things through very well. It never mattered much until the recent murder, with investigators swallowing whole.

I doubt Pam Hupp can be charged in that case. Get this, she was never even questioned when it happened, despite being the last person to see her mother alive. The recent murder has shifted spotlight to the mother's death. Those photos had not been released publicly until now.

I'd guess that the $150,000 from Betsy Faria's life insurance didn't go as far as Sweet Pamela projected, and she encountered some unfair opposition from Betsy's daughters regarding those funds, so Pam had to keep it within the family on her next murder, knowing she would be assigned the estimated $500,000 from her mother's proceeds.

The Faria murder was 2011. Pam Hupp's 77 year old mother died in 2013. No big deal. The incompetent investigation of the original case led to not only injustice but two subsequent deaths -- the mother and the recent 33 year old mentally challenged man shot dead in Pam Hupp's home.