This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
As if the news our family received the morning of Jan. 5, 2010 wasn't painful enough Judge Eyre just keeps adding to it. For those of you that may or may not have heard or been following the death of my daughter, Millard County Sheriff's Deputy Josie Greathouse Fox, let me give you some of the details so you will know why I am so upset. Josie was gunned down and murdered by Roberto Roman, while on duty at 1 A.M. on Jan. 5, 2010. Roman, an illegal alien from Mexico, previously convicted of crimes in Judge Eyre's own court including deportation, eventually returned to Millard County only to execute my daughter. He fled the scene and was caught the following day in Beaver County where he then ADMITTED to shooting my Josie and ADMITTED to knowing she was an on duty police officer. On Aug. 17 of this year a jury of 8 found this murderer not guilty. This is simply a matter of the jury having made the wrong decision. Even with Judge Eyre's pro-defense decisions and evidence suppression throughout the proceedings there was more than enough evidence for the jury to convict. The story that this murderer came up with over the last two and a half years was utterly ridiculous. It was beyond ridiculous! It was among the most sinister lies ever told. Rob Roman set a new standard for cruelty and depravity, which for some reason was good enough for this judge and jury. From what I have heard and read this was a matter of two jurors seizing their moment and doing something big. These jurors were inspired by Hollywood, not the truth. They traded their oath and the instructions they were given for a chance to star in a court room drama. They thought they were Hollywood heroes, when in fact they were really cowards. One of the jurors, a know-it-all law STUDENT who convinced the other jurors he knew more about bullet trajectories than the state medical examiner and was able to convince the other jurors that the medical examiner's testimony was wrong. All it would have taken was for one juror with a little courage, to prevent this monumental injustice. The judge and jury killed Josie again with their decisions while outrageously believing a murdering drug dealing illegal alien who condemned my son, Ryan of her murder.
The one decision that had the biggest impact on the trial was the exclusion of all of Ryan's sworn written statements except those parts that benefitted the real murderer. Judge Eyre was wrong in every sense and shouldn't have suppressed it when there was no legal justification for that decision. The defendant himself introduced his version of Ryan's statement at the trial. By doing so he waived his confrontation rights and opened the door for Ryan's entire statement to come in, but Judge Eyre ridiculously rejected Ryan's actual statement without justification and once again propped up the defense and left the state without recourse.
Anyone that knew my Ryan knew what a kind hearted loving person he was! Ryan did have a drug addiction which he would admit to. He was never a liar and he told the police everything about that night and helped however he could to assist the investigation. One of the things the defense brought up in court was how Ryan reacted emotionless to learning that his sister had been shot and killed. How would you react? Would your reaction be the same as the next person? Would you be in shock like Ryan obviously was, like the officers testified to in court? But why believe the officers when you could believe the murdering drug dealer and his lies. Ryan would never hurt anyone especially his own sister and he would never have threatened anyone like Roman claimed over two and a half years later, and once Ryan was unable to defend himself. Roman stated that Ryan was afraid to be pulled over by the law that morning because he had drugs, but was Roman not more afraid because he was a convicted illegal alien in possession of a gun? Or did he know Judge Eyre would let him off easy? It's amazing how Rob Roman all of a sudden became Roberto Roman that couldn't understand or speak English like he had been doing for years. I hope that the jury and all other citizens feel safe when this murderer is released. Once he is released and deported you will have only made him a hero in Mexico for killing a law officer in the U.S.
Judge Eyre was very concerned about offending the defense attorneys throughout this case. In finding Roman mentally retarded he ignored reality in favor of the opinions of two highly paid shrinks, whose job it was to find Roman retarded. He refused to consider anything but the testimony that favored this outcome. Judge Eyre didn't even allow one of the doctors whom he appointed to evaluate Roman to testify in this hearing due to the defense objecting to his expertise on the matter. Instead we got to sit there and watch the dog and pony show, that the defense hired, tell us how Roman is mentally retarded and basically how everyone of us would be by their paid experts' definition. Judge Eyre did everything he was told to do by the state funded defense. He was spellbound. After hearing Roman's testimony at trial one might ask yourself who really is the mentally retarded one here, Judge Eyre may want to get checked for more than that. Maybe he and Roman could get a two for one deal on the tax payer dollar. Roman made an idiot out of Judge Eyre and played him for a fool. Roman's acquittal makes us wonder if being deemed mentally retarded a trait to aspire to? We don't all have the thousands of state dollars, which Roman had spent on him, to be found mentally retarded at our disposal.
My family and I, most importantly Josie, did not receive the justice that she deserved. Ryan was accused of something he was not capable of, and simply did not do. The judge and jury made sure that justice could not be served. I hope they can sleep at night with their decisions … I know we can't.
Russell Greathouse