AZ VS. SPAN: SAD SAGA IN PHOENIX By J. Huston, Staffwriter, The Correspondent, P.O. Box 9283, Missoula, MT 59807. Source: New Times, Phoenix, AZ, May 16-22, 1990. The day began normally enough for the Span family of Phoenix, Arizona, but April 7, 1988, soon became a living nightmare. Two U.S. Marshals brutally terrorized a 74-year-old man, Bill Span, his 72-year-old wife Virginia, and their children Jerry and Darlene. That was the day that Jerry and Darlene were charged with resisting arrest and attacking federal officers, and the day their mother had to be rushed to the hospital from jail where she nearly died. Assaults by the officers on Jerry, Darlene, and Virginia were photographed, witnessed and attested to by several private citizens--yet the jury delivered guilty verdicts against Jerry and Darlene. Why? Had the jurors known that they had the right to judge the law as well as the defendants according to that law, two innocent victims of law enforcement brutality would not be facing a prison sentence today. Also, five jurors would not be consumed with guilt, and lawsuits totaling four million dollars would not be pending against Jerry and Darlene. If the Fully Informed Jury Amendment had been in force in Arizona, justice would have been served and those truly guilty would have been punished. U.S. Marshals Garry Grotewold and David Dains were trying to track down a 69-year-old man by the name of Mickey Michael. Bill and Virginia have a son by that name, but he is only 39 years old. A phone number had led the marshals to the Span home. Marshal Grotewold testified at the trial that Bill Span answered the men's questions, allowed them to search his home and gave directions to the family's place of business, where they might find Mickey. Mr. Span's version was quite different. As related by Bill's daughter Alice, she found her father on the kitchen floor, sobbing and bruised with a knot on his head and a swollen eye, the house torn apart. Mr. Span said he had insisted on seeing a search warrant. At that time the hefty Grotewold, approximately 220 pounds, pinned the frail old man against the wall while his partner Dains searched the home. Bill Span died two months after the incident. Later, at the family's business, Grotewold showed a photograph of Michael to Darlene. She acknowledged that she knew a Mickey Michael, her brother, but that he was not the man in the picture. About the same time Jerry Span appeared. He did not know the man in the photo either and offered to show the picture around and let them know if anyone knew him. Acting as though he did not believe them, Marshal Grotewold allegedly threatened Darlene. Jerry invited them to leave and both turned their backs on the marshals to take care of their customers. At that time, Jerry claims Grotewold hit him on the back of the head, kicked him in the back and knocked him to the ground. Meanwhile, Dains grabbed Darlene, by her hair and slammed her face into the fence where both fell to the ground. Marshal Grotewold claims that he was struck by Jerry between 30 and 40 times, and that Span had attempted to take possession of his pistol 5 or 10 times. Considering that Grotewold weighs about 90 pounds more than Jerry, this scenario is difficult to imagine. Even less credibly, Grotewold claimed he was fearful for his life. One customer, who later became a defense witness, stated that Jerry and Darlene "...had their backs turned to the marshals when they blindsided them. Darlene and Jerry never knew what hit them." Due to an ongoing eminent domain dispute between the Spans and the city, Jerry and Darlene's brother Pete Span was taking roll-film photos of the business when the altercations began. Their mother Virgina arrived later with a Polaroid. Pete declared that Marshal Dains grabbed a roll of film from him and ground it into the dirt with the heel of his boot, crushing the canister. When the marshal went after his camera, Pete, a marathon runner, fled. But film that could have clarified the early part of the assault had already been destroyed. According to witnesses, Dains and Grotewold, in their attempt to wrest the Polaroid from Virginia, grabbed her neck and twisted her arm behind her back, then threw her to the ground. One witness stated later, "I'd have tried to kill them if it had been my mother. All she was doing...was standing, watching, and occasionally taking a picture." Dains charged that Virginia Span had struck him over the head with her camera, which he said he was trying to retrieve for evidence to validate the assault charges. However, Dains never listed scalp lacerations as an injury received during the altercation, and hair and blood samples were never taken from the camera as evidence for the prosecution. In front of witnesses, to justify arresting Virginia, Grotewold claimed that the puncture wound in his hand came from Virginia biting him. However, as Virginia pointed out, she has no teeth. In Grotewold's report he stated that Jerry had bitten him. The puncture wound apparently had come from Bill Span's dog when the two men assaulted the old man in his home. Customers were witnesses to the confrontations, yet none was questioned by the Phoenix police, who arrived later, nor by the marshals. In an interview conducted by New Times, a Phoenix weekly, all of the witnesses backed up the story as the Spans had related it. On February 23, 1990, U.S. Marshal Tomas Lopez wrote to the prosecutor on the Span case acknowledging that Dains and Grotewold both had reputations for provoking assaults. The judge, however, would not permit the letter to be entered as evidence on behalf of the defendants. Instead, Lopez reportedly came under fire for writing the letter.. Judge Broomfield instructed the jury that "Federal officers engaged in good faith and colorable performance of their duties may not be forcibly resisted, even if the resister turns out to be correct, that the resisted actions should not, in fact, have been taken. The statute requires him to submit peaceably and seek legal redress thereafter." Given this instruction, the jury returned verdicts of guilty against both Darlene and Jerry, even though they felt that the marshals were the ones who initiated the assault. Several later stated that they thought they had no alternative but to convict. Five of them ended up signing a statement which expressed their belief that "such a law is completely unfair and against everything that the United States stands for." Had even these five realized the power they held as jurors to judge both law and fact, it is unlikely the Spans would be preparing appeals right now, facing prison terms of up to three years if they fail, as well as lawsuits for damages of $2 million filed by the marshals. Instead, the Spans could be pursuing lawsuits of their own against the men who attacked them. Now Bill Span is dead, Virginia no longer drives or reads, and thousands of unaffordable dollars have already been poured into their children's legal defense.* With justice like this, who needs tyranny? And oh, yes. It later turned out that Darlene and Jerry's brother Mickey Michael was indeed not the man the marshals were looking for, after all.... _________________________________________________________________ *EDITORS' NOTE: We at FIJA know that Darlene and Jerry Span will gladly and gratefully welcome any legal or financial assistance sent in support of their appeal. They receive mail at P.O. Box 44970, Phoenix, AZ 85064.