The Arizona Republic - 1995 - Article with Citation
Source: THE PHOENIX GAZETTE
Headline: TEMPLE CASE EVIDENCE IS QUESTIONED
Date: February 4, 1995 Section: Metro
Edition: Final
Page: B2
Word Count: 280
Author: By The Associated Press
Text:
Maricopa County Attorney Richard Romley on Friday dismissed reports that his office had overlooked key elements in the 1991 slayings of nine people at a Buddhist temple west of Phoenix.
The editor of the Grapevine, a weekly newspaper sold by homeless people at intersections throughout the city, said Friday that their review of the case showed several discrepancies.
A story in this week's issue says the serial number of the rifle borrowed by the youths convicted of the killings didn't match the number on the ledger sheet from the store where the rifle was bought. But Romley said Friday that the number was written down incorrectly by a sales clerk and that investigators traced the discrepancy during the investigation.
Johnathan Doody was convicted in the slayings after companion Alessandro Garcia pleaded guilty to escape the death penalty and testified against Doody.
Grapevine Editor Kevin Birnbaum also said that a note written in Thai was left in the temple saying ''The weight is now up to 1,083 pounds.'' Birnbaum and reporter Brian Quig contended that may have been a reference to 1,080 pounds of the heroin confiscated weeks earlier in Oakland. The drug had come from Bangkok, Thailand.
Romley spokesman Bill FitzGerald said the investigation found the note related to the temple's collection of aluminum cans, which he said temple workers took to California to get a better return.
''There is no weight whatsoever to anything they're saying,'' FitzGerald said.
Copyright 1995 Phoenix Newspapers Inc.
Accession Number: 9502060496
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