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Weber County Attorney Dee W. Smith said there was no video taken of the officers actually entering the home, but there is video available of the crime scene from the dash-cams of patrol vehicles and other officers who arrived after the initial shooting.

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So, they have the money for a 12-man assault squad, but no money for a video cam?

What, did they spend the extra jack on automatic weapons, full body armor and Stryker assault vehicles?

I think they had to lose the video.

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Last of Ogden shooting search warrants is sealed
By nate carlisle

The Salt Lake Tribune
First published Jan 24 2012 03:04PM
Updated Jan 25, 2012 12:08AM

A judge has sealed all the search warrants related to an Ogden shooting in which one police officer was killed and five others were wounded, a spokeswoman for Utah State Courts said Tuesday.

That includes the original search warrant for a drug investigation police were serving Jan. 4 on Matthew David Stewart. The court spokeswoman, Nancy Volmer said last week that two search warrants had been sealed. Volmer on Tuesday confirmed a third and fourth search warrant have been sealed.

Search warrants in Utah become public 20 days after they are issued unless police or prosecutors ask a judge to seal them. A judge can find the search warrant would jeopardize a continuing investigation or be an invasion of privacy.

Search warrants include a description of the police investigation thus far. After the search, police must give the court on inventory of what they seized.

Court documents say the Weber Morgan Narcotics Strike force suspected Stewart, 37, was growing marijuana at his home at 3268 Jackson Ave. in Ogden. Stewart hid in his home until police entered, court documents allege, and fired a 9 mm handgun at officers.

The shooting killed strike force agent and Ogden police officer Jared Francom. Of the five wounded officers, Kasey Burrell is the only one still in the hospital. He was in fair condition Tuesday at McKay-Dee Hospital.

Stewart was wounded in the shootout and also remains in a hospital. He has been charged with aggravated murder and eight other felonies. Weber County Attorney Dee Smith has filed notice he will seek the death penalty.

Prosecutors last week filed amended charges against Stewart, adding a dangerous weapon enhancement that could mean up to nine additional years in prison if he were convicted of all counts against him.

ncarlisle@sltrib.com

Twitter: @natecarlisle

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The caller, who identified himself as John Defanno, said that he had the 18-year-old Danielle and her dad tied up in their home in Security, a suburb of Colorado Springs. He'd beaten the father with his gun. "He's bleeding profusely," Defanno warned. "I am armed, I do have a pistol. If any cops come in this house with any guns, I will ****ing shoot them. I better get some help here, because I'm going ****ing psycho right now."

The 911 operator tried to keep him on the line, but Defanno cut the call short. "I'm not talking anymore," he snapped. "You have the address. If I don't have help here now, in the next five minutes, I swear to ****ing God, I will shoot these people." Then the line went dead.

Officers raced to the house, ready for an armed standoff with a homicidal suspect. But when they arrived, they found no gunman, no hostages, no blood. Danielle and her father were safe and sound at home — alone. They had never heard of John Defanno, for good reason: He didn't exist.

"John Defanno" was actually a 15-year-old boy named Matthew Weigman — a fat, lonely blind kid who lived with his mom in a working-class neighborhood of East Boston. In person, Weigman was a shy and awkward teenager with a shaved head who spent his days holed up in his room, often talking for up to 20 hours a day on free telephone chat lines. On the phone, he became "Lil' Hacker," the most skilled member of a small band of telephone pranksters known as "phreaks." To punish Danielle, who had*****ed him off on a chat line, Weigman had phoned 911 and posed as a psycho, rigging his caller ID to make it look like the emergency call was coming from inside Danielle's home. It's a trick known as "swatting" — mobilizing SWAT teams to exact revenge on your enemies — and phreakers like Weigman have used it to trigger some 200 false raids in dozens of cities nationwide.

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The safest way for this to have gone down was to wait until the homeowner was at work (they knew he worked at Walmart). Enter the home, search it, find the stuff they are searching for, then arrest the homeowner as he leaves his job.

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However, since they had a search warrant, I thought they could greet the guy as he got off work and detain him while they executed the search warrant. Case law does not make it clear. It has been ruled legal to detain the occupants when they are on the premises, but I can't find any cases where they detained them when they were not on the premises.

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Anybody have legal opinion on how the police could execute this type of search warrant without violating suspects 4th Amendment rights while still maintaining safety for all? Just in this one PD in the last year, we have a dead guy with a golf club in his hand, a dead cop, and lots of injured people. Seems like there should be a safer legal way to do this.

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Ogden cop-shooting suspect says he feared for his life

Ogden • The man accused of killing a police officer and wounding five others said he thought people were breaking into his home to "rob and kill me."

Matthew David Stewart, 37, said he never heard officers identify themselves or announce they were at his home to serve a search warrant. Stewart, in an interview Friday at the Weber County Jail, said his alarm clock woke him, then he heard a crash that sounded like glass breaking.

"Some parts I remember vividly," Stewart said of the Jan. 4 shootout. "Other parts it was like I was running on instinct.

"When you’re convinced that you are getting robbed and most likely killed by a group of armed men, your instincts kick in."

Stewart has been charged with aggravated murder for the death of Ogden police Officer Jared Francom, who was a member of the Weber-Morgan Narcotics Strike Force. He also has been charged with eight other felony counts. Weber County Attorney Dee Smith has filed notice that he intends to seek the death penalty.

Stewart spoke with a Tribune reporter Friday during one of his two weekly 25-minute visits he’s allowed via a video teleconference system at the jail. Stewart declined to answer some questions, including whether he was growing marijuana in his home on Jackson Avenue, as the strike force was investigating. Stewart did say he believes marijuana should be legal.

Stewart said he "had no idea" he was under investigation by the strike force. He worked a night shift at the Walmart in Riverdale and was asleep as the strike force arrived between 8 and 8:30 p.m.

The day after the shooting, the strike force commander, Darrin Parke, said officers repeatedly knocked on Stewart’s door and called inside the house and it was only after those tries they broke inside.

Although Stewart said he didn’t hear officers announce themselves, he didn’t answer whether he had some indication police officers had entered his home.

"I didn’t know," he said. "All I knew for sure is they were there to rob and kill me."

Court documents claim Stewart was in a hiding spot as the strike force was searching the house to see if anyone was inside. Stewart then emerged from the hiding spot, court documents say, and began firing a 9 mm Beretta, first shooting Officer Shawn Grogan in the face.

Francom was shot six times, according to the court papers.

Also injured by gunfire were Weber County sheriff’s Sgt. Nate Hutchinson; Roy police Officer James VanderWarf; Ogden police Officer Michael Rounkles; and Ogden police Officer Kasey Burrell. All the injured have been released from hospitals.

Stewart served in the U.S. Army. He saw no combat but said the training was meant to be "like the real thing." On Friday, he said he also worked nine years as armed security for the Internal Revenue Service.

Stewart said he has not been diagnosed with any disorders as a result of his service, though on Friday he said he felt the Army and security stints changed him. He did not elaborate.

When asked whether he applied his military and security training the night of the shooting, Stewart replied: "It makes sense."

As for Francom and the injured officers, Stewart said: "I’m totally devastated that anybody had to suffer over any of this. This never should have happened."

Stewart thinks two bullets struck him during the shootout, but he isn’t sure. He said he can’t tell what are entrance and exit wounds and he had difficulty getting answers from his doctors and nurses at the hospital where he remained until Monday.

One bullet appears to have struck Stewart in his right hip then entered his abdomen, he said. Doctors had to remove portions of his intestines. He’s using a colostomy bag.

"I’m still having a lot of trouble dealing with the colostomy," Stewart said. "It’s a big psychological blow, but it’s also real difficult in here."

Another bullet struck Stewart in his left leg and damaged nerves there. Stewart said he can’t stand in one place long without "blinding pain" in the leg.

Since a few days after the shooting, Stewart has been represented by attorney Randall Richards, but Stewart said Friday he will be seeking new counsel. Stewart had an initial appearance Wednesday in 2nd District Court in Ogden via a video link from the county jail. A status hearing for Stewart was set for Feb. 7.

Near the end of his visit, Stewart implied more facts of what happened Jan. 4 will emerge.

"I’ve always been a big fan of the truth," Stewart said. "It’s tough for me to stay silent on some issues."

ncarlisle@sltrib.com

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Fundraising stopped by family of suspect in officer shooting

OGDEN — Family and friends of Matthew David Stewart have received yet one more blow in their efforts to fight for his life in the courts.

Stewart is charged with killing one police officer and wounding five others during an Ogden drug raid last month, and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

His family, which is using the website helpmatthewstewart.org to gain support for Stewart’s defense, has been asked to stop raising money for the effort.

“We’ve suspended the solicitation because we received a letter from the State of Utah asking us to stop,” said Michael Stewart, Matthew’s father. The letter from the Utah Division of Consumer Protection was received Thursday.

The father said the fundraising portion of the family’s website devoted to his son’s legal defense has been removed until the family can get a required permit.
“We don’t want to break the law,” said the father.

Michael Stewart said the family was told that they would need a permit to solicit funds. He said they have filed the paperwork and paid the fees required, and he was told it could take up to 20 days to receive the permit.

But he also wondered if his cause was being treated fairly.

“There have been a lot of fund-raisers for the officers,” he said. “Are they requiring a permit for that too?”

Stewart faces capital murder and other charges following the Jan. 4 raid at his home.

On the website, the family has posted stories outlining a disparity in resources between those fighting for the death penalty for their son and those working for his defense.

One story states that the playing field currently is stacked 65 to four against Stewart as prosecutors have 52 investigating officers as well as 13 other investigators looking for evidence to support them. It states that Stewart is limited to four on his defense team.

The website also complains about a 21-minute video it claims contains about 200 images collected from the Weber County Sheriff’s Office that is being distributed to law-enforcement agencies statewide.

Consumer Protection Division Director Traci Gunderson said the family must register for a permit with the state as a charity under the Charitable Solicitations Act, which is designed to protect the public from fraud.

Michael Stewart said he submitted an application for a permit and a $100 fee Friday.

The law requires a permit before soliciting, requesting, promoting, advertising or sponsoring a contribution for a charitable purpose. Many groups, including religious organizations, schools, political parties and volunteer fire departments, are exempt.

The letter was sent to Stewart’s family after a couple of residents asked if the family was registered with the state, Gunderson said.

“Our standard operation procedure is, when we become aware of solicitations being made, we send out a notice,” Gunderson said, adding some organizations fail to show where funds are going, and a permit will reveal that.

On its website, the family describes the shootout as a “tragic misunderstanding” and had asked for help in raising $70,000 to mount a legal defense.

In addition to capital murder, Matthew Stewart faces a marijuana cultivation charge and seven counts of attempted aggravated murder.

Matthew Stewart, who served in the military and has worked in security, has said he feared for his life the night of the raid because he thought people were breaking into his home to rob and kill him.

He said he never heard the drug strike force members identify themselves or announce they were at his home to serve a search warrant.

Ogden Police Officer Jared Francom was killed in the ensuing shooting, and five other officers were injured, some critically.

The family wants to hire private investigators and expert witnesses to assist two public defenders who have been appointed to handle Matthew Stewart’s case.

Besides their website, the family also has launched a Facebook group, which currently has 329 members, called Supporters of Matthew David Stewart. On the site, supporters have posted concerns about the legality of how the raid on Stewart’s house was conducted, as well as information about when a person is legally allowed to use deadly force to protect his property.

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The father said the fundraising portion of the family’s website devoted to his son’s legal defense has been removed until the family can get a required permit.

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One story states that the playing field currently is stacked 65 to four against Stewart as prosecutors have 52 investigating officers as well as 13 other investigators looking for evidence to support them. It states that Stewart is limited to four on his defense team.

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Why so many .gov taxeaters on this one?