Ryn Gargulinski
Creativity on Fire
Ambushed after all? Medical 'experts' wrong in shooting case of Pinal County sheriff Deputy Louie Puroll
Bloody shirts don't lie – and Pinal County sheriff Deputy Louie Puroll's green shirt says he didn't shoot himself in the back after all.
Pinal County Deputy Purrol's wound/submitted photo
Such is the conclusion after the Arizona Department of Public Safety tested Puroll's shirt for gunshot residue.
The Pinal County Sheriff's Office, along with other law enforcement agencies, had investigated the April 30 shooting and found "the facts of the case confirmed the accounts of the event as Deputy Puroll described," notes the most recent release from the sheriff's office.
Two medical bigwigs then cried foul, saying Puroll had been shot at close contact. Neither of the medical "experts" had examined the wound, but merely glanced at photographs.
The Department of Public safety concluded its testing of Puroll's bloody shirt Oct. 8 and, although DPS refuses to comment on the testing or any aspect of the case, the sheriff's office fills us in.
Close up of Pinal Deputy Puroll's green shirt/submitted photo
The test results are "a hole was located on the back left side of the t-shirt. The area around the hole was microscopically and chemically processed for the presence of gunshot residues. Bullet wipe was found which is consistent with the passage of a bullet; however, no gun power was detected," said the release.
Not only does this kill off a goodly number of conspiracy theories, but it leaves the two "experts" with a very tough decision:
Would they like the egg on their faces scrambled or fried?
To recap, 53-year-old Puroll, a 15-year-veteran with the sheriff's office, was wounded on his left side while out tracking drug smugglers near Antelope Peak.
"He was ambushed and shot," says a May 9 letter from Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, with the shooting resulting in a multi-agency sweep. "There were over 100 illegals apprehended within our security perimeter in the remote desert area south of I-8 and west of Casa Grande, just within 24 hours we were there."
Then came the two medical "experts" who said that's not what happened and offered their own opinions to the Arizona Republic.
Close up of Pinal Deputy Puroll's gunshot wound/submitted photo
Puroll had to be "within inches" of the weapon, not 25 yards away, claimed Dr. Michael Baden, co-director of the New York State Police Medicolegal Investigation Unit and former chief medical examiner for New York City.
"This was fired at contact range . . . with the muzzle of the gun lying against the skin," the Republic quoted Dr. Werner Spitz, co-author of the textbook "Medicolegal Investigation of Death" and the retired chief medical examiner of Detroit's Wayne County.
This is not the first time at least one of the "former" and "retired" medical examiners offered his two cents on a high profile case. This is also not the first time his two cents were not even worth a penny.
Baden took the stand as an "expert" witness in the case of Ted Binion, the Las Vegas tycoon who died under suspicious circumstances in 1998.
The defense said Binion, a reported heroin addict, died of a heroin overdose.
"By all initial appearances, it seemed like an open-and-shut case: suicide or accidental death of a life-long addict by lethal overdose," CBS's 48 Hours reported.
Baden said no, the guy was suffocated to death.
"Not just any kind of suffocation said Baden, but a rare method of murder dating back to 19th Century England called burking – suffocating an already intoxicated person leaving minimal evidence," said CBS News.
"Baden said Ted's burking was botched and pointed to circular marks on Ted's chest, "'which, in my opinion, matches up to the buttons on the shirt.'"
There goes Baden with another theory based solely on photographs.
While his testimony helped convict the two suspected murderers of Binion, a Nevada Supreme Court Judge overturned the convictions and a second trial cleared both suspects of the murder.
"Defense lawyers would have an amazing nine medical experts of their own testify that Baden's burking theory was dead wrong," CBS wrote of the second trial.
"'And they have, in a singular voice, rejected as absurd the Baden theory of burking,' (defense attorney Tony) Serra told the court."
How strange the bigwig medical man keeps popping up during high profile cases. If we didn't know any better, we'd perhaps think he's just trying to get his name in the papers.
But that, of course, may qualify as a conspiracy theory.
NOTE: This post was amended to remove DPS from being named as an agency in the initial investigation that agreed with the Pinal County Sheriff's Office on the investigation's findings, although an earlier news release from the sheriff's office reported it had. Terminology that refers to the case as "closed" has also been omitted.
Past posts on topic:
Who shot Pinal Deputy Puroll?
Shot deputy recovering
[tnipoll]
PHOTO NOTE: Two desert area photos include: one photo taken by "Secure Border Intelligence" that captured Deputy Puroll working the same area approximately one month prior to the shooting incident and one photo also from "Secure Border Intelligence" of armed suspects in the same location and on the same day that Deputy Puroll was photographed.
Armed suspects in area same day Puroll was photographed/submitted photo
Pinal Deputy Puroll patrolling area where he was shot about one month prior to shooting/submitted photo
Blue shirt that had been tied around Pinal Deputy Puroll's waist/submitted photo
Pinal County Deputy Louie Puroll/submitted photo
Do you now believe Deputy Puroll was ambushed?
Sept. 28 poll results on the question (as of Oct. 12):
Do you believe Deputy Puroll was ambushed by drug smugglers?
I don't know. I'm too busy still wondering how O.J. was acquitted.
Other – please explain in comment section of post.
Yes 26%
I don't know. I'm too busy still wondering how O.J. was acquitted. 12%
Other – please explain in comment section of post. 0%
Filed Under: blogski, crime, danger, death, environment, gross stuff, immigrants, life, media, notable folks, heroes, police, fire, law, politics, stupidity Tagged With: armed illegals, crime, danger, desert dangers, desert drug smugglers, environment, gross, guns, illegal, illegal aliens, immigrants, louie puroll, michael baden, pinal county, pinal county deputy shooting, pinal county sheriff office, pinal county sheriff photos, pinal deputy ambushed, ryn gargulinski, rynski, rynski's blogski, sick, test results pinal shooting, twisted, werner spitz
Would you hire a convicted felon to babysit your kids?
Convicted felons, for some reason, have a bad reputation.
It may be because they've been, well, convicted of a felony. Felonies run the gamut from murder to drug possession, theft to child prostitution.
Royzell Williams/AZ DOC photo
Arizona law suspends a host of civil rights from convicted felons. They can no longer vote, can't hold public office positions and are banned from owning a gun. They automatically get out of jury duty. They can forget about working as a sheriff's deputy or cop.
But convicted felons can be hired into a state position unless their felony "has a reasonable relationship to the functions" of what they are hired to do.
In other words, it wouldn't be wise to hire a person convicted of child prostitution to run a day care agency or babysit your kids.
While some of us may want to give people the benefit of the doubt until they prove us wrong – not unlike that "innocent until proven guilty" theory – some folks just can't be trusted.
Two cases popped up recently in Pinal County where convicted felons who had been hired by the county government screwed up royally.
Albert Robbs, 51, who served prison time for theft, was hired by the County Recorder's office into a position where he had complete access to county residents' checking account numbers, credit card information and social security numbers.
Albert Robbs/AZ DOC photo
Guess what? Robbs stole checks that came into the office and handed them over to one of his three partners-in-crime to buy drugs, according to Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu.
"It's not surprising he was subsequently arrested and indicted for identity theft and assisting in a criminal syndicate," Babeu said in his August newsletter.
Royzell Williams, 46, who served time for theft, drug possession and sale of drugs, was hired as a bailiff in Pinal County Superior Court.
"Just last week, he was arrested, booked and charged with accepting bribes in exchange for attempting to influence the outcome of cases before the Superior Court," Babeu said.
That's some pretty heavy duty stuff.
Both guys were hired fresh out of prison. Both guys were given the benefit of the doubt. Both guys made the sheriff angry enough to demand a ban on hiring convicted felons into Pinal County government positions.
"These situations serve as strong examples of why we should ban the hiring of convicted felons," Babeu said. "Leaders in our government have knowingly hired convicted felons, who have used their public offices to commit serious crimes. Hiring officials allowed their personal relationships or other considerations color their judgment when it comes to hiring decisions."
I've seen convicted felons who are honestly trying to turn their lives around and cringe every time they have to fill out that little box on employment applications: "Have you ever been convicted of a felony? Please explain."
I've also seen convicted felons who dabble at making a better life, realize it's a major pain to follow the law, at least for them, and plunge back into the "easy" life of crime.
Some, too, pretend to be on the up-and-up while they have no intention of doing anything other than falling back into their old habits.
Would I hire a convicted felon to weed my yard?
Sure. As long as he stayed outside.
Paint my house?
Maybe. Depends on the conviction. And as long as he didn't see where my diamonds, emeralds and rubies were stashed.
Watch my dogs?
Not in your life.
Is banning convicted felons from government employment too harsh?
Should they all be given a second chance?
Have you had any positive/negative experiences hiring, befriending or marrying a convicted felon?
Filed Under: blogski, crime, danger, death, gross stuff, life, police, fire, law, politics, stupidity Tagged With: albert robbs, az doc, child prostitution, convicted felons, danger, drugs, felony, gross, murder, paul babeu, pinal county, prison, rape, royzell williams, rynski's blogski, sheriff, theft, twisted