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Alleged rape in Missoula County Juvenile Detention Facility

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Ursus:
Essentially the same article (as the one below) was also published on the same day by the Helena Independent Record under the title Cody Marble followup: Back to prison.

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Missoulian

Column: Inmate maintains the system failed him

By MIKE DENNISON Missoulian State Bureau   missoulian.com |  Posted: Sunday, September 28, 2008 12:00 am

HELENA - This spring, I wrote about a jailhouse rape case involving a Missoula man, Cody Marble, and questions raised about his 2002 conviction for a crime he says never occurred.

Marble, 24, who was free on probation last year after serving a five-year prison sentence, is now back in the Montana State Prison at Deer Lodge.

He was taken there two weeks ago from the Missoula County jail, after being sentenced for violating his probation by possessing methamphetamine. For that and other alleged probation violations, Marble got an additional 10 years in prison.

He probably won't be eligible for parole until early 2010. By then, Marble will have spent the better part of 11 years in Montana's criminal justice system, much of that time behind bars or in some type of secure juvenile or adult facility.

Our May story reported on two sex-offender counselors who've examined Marble and who had doubts about his guilt, as well as a jail officer who believes Marble may be innocent. She said she was never asked her opinion while on the witness stand at the trial.

Marble was convicted by a Missoula District Court jury in November 2002 of raping a 13-year-old boy and fellow inmate at the Missoula County Juvenile Detention Center.

Marble, 17 at the time, says the boy and five other juvenile inmates who testified against him cooked up the story as a form of jailhouse retribution. No physical evidence of rape existed. Marble's accusers first reported the rape six days after it allegedly occurred in March 2002 - and four days after Marble had been released from the detention center.

Marble rejected a plea agreement that would have kept him out of prison, an agreement that required pleading guilty to the rape. Instead, he insisted on going to trial, was convicted and got a 20-year sentence, with 15 years suspended.

He continues to try to overturn his sentence in the courts and seek a new trial, but so far has failed.

When Marble was accused of the jailhouse rape in 2002, his prior crimes had been little more than possessing and using marijuana. He had been in and out of juvenile programs since he was 14, while his family was embroiled in domestic disputes involving his mother, grandmother and father. His mother, Toni Marble, also had attempted suicide more than once.

On July 29, 1999, Marble was sent to a juvenile center in Medical Lake, Wash., for "ungovernable behavior." That night, his mother killed herself with carbon monoxide in an enclosed car.

Marble began using meth after he was accused of the rape. Upon his 2007 release from prison, he was put on a waiting list at Turning Point Addiction Service in Missoula. He relapsed four months later and was arrested. At that point, he was offered a "fast track" treatment option at Turning Point, but was late for an appointment and missed another, canceling that option.

Now, nine years into the system, Marble says he has never had what he considers timely, effective treatment options for his grief or drug use in the wake of his mother's death. Both he and his father, Jerry Marble, say the system has focused on punishment rather than appropriate treatment.

"There was no treatment or anything," Cody Marble says. "Just 10 years of punishment for essentially getting high. I want to go to drug treatment; whatever it takes to do that. That's the only problem I've ever really had."

"I'm the one who keeps pounding on Cody: Drugs aren't going to bring your mom back, and you're just making it worse for yourself," adds his father. "I challenge anybody to walk in his shoes and not turn to drugs or alcohol."

After spending five years in prison for a crime he says he didn't commit, Marble came out as a convicted rapist, designated a "Level 3 sexual predator" who had to register with local authorities.

Other requirements of his release included going to sex-offender treatment, which he had to pay for; no drinking or entering bars or casinos; getting a chemical-dependency evaluation and treatment, which he had to pay for; no possession of pornography or X-rated videos; and payment of a nearly $22,000 bill to Missoula County to cover his public defender costs for the rape trial.

At the sentencing for Marble's probation violation this summer, District Judge Douglas Harkin denied his request to be sent to a meth-treatment program outside of prison. However, even if Harkin had agreed, it's unlikely the treatment program would have accepted him because of his rape conviction. He will have some treatment options at the state prison.

Those who prosecuted the rape case have no sympathy for Marble and say they have no doubt he's guilty of the 2002 rape.

Andrew Paul, a Missoula County deputy prosecutor who assisted on the 2002 rape trial, notes that Marble was arrested last October in a Missoula motel room, where he was looking at pornographic images on a computer and had alcohol and drug paraphernalia in the room.

Paul pushed for a stiff re-sentence for Marble's probation violations.

"Numerous treatment opportunities have been made available to Cody Marble, both for chemical dependency issues and psychological issues," Paul wrote in an e-mail to me last week. "(He) is an untreated sex offender who uses meth, won't comply with any type of treatment and refused to follow the rules of probation - rules that are established to both rehabilitate the offender and protect society."

Missoulian State Bureau reporter Mike Dennison can be reached at (406) 443-4920 or by e-mail at mike.dennison@lee.net.


Copyright 2011 missoulian.com.

Ursus:
Missoulian

Missoula man loses latest state Supreme Court appeal in rape case

By MIKE DENNISON Missoulian State Bureau   missoulian.com |  Posted: Wednesday, September 23, 2009 11:05 pm

HELENA - A Missoula man who says he's innocent of a 2002 rape conviction has lost his latest appeal to the Montana Supreme Court.

Cody Marble, 25, had filed a writ of habeas corpus with the Supreme Court, arguing that his original case was not properly transferred to state District Court, where he was tried as an adult although he was 17 at the time of the alleged rape.

State law requires that a "transfer hearing" be held to move a criminal case from Youth Court to District Court, if the defendant is under 18, he said. Marble never had such a hearing before he was tried by a District Court jury in Missoula.

But in a 5-0 ruling last week, the high court said the law doesn't allow someone to use a habeas corpus writ to challenge a conviction or sentence if they've already exhausted their right to appeal.

Marble had earlier appealed his conviction on other grounds and had those appeals rejected by state courts, including the Supreme Court.

In a telephone interview from the Montana State Prison, Marble said Wednesday he'll now pursue the same issue in federal court.

He said the Supreme Court appeared to dismiss his latest appeal on procedural grounds, without considering whether his rights had been violated by the failure to have a transfer hearing in 2002.

"The (lack of a) transfer hearing is my best issue, other than the fact that I'm really innocent, which doesn't seem to have a bearing on anything," Marble said.

Marble was convicted of raping a fellow male teenage inmate at the Missoula County Juvenile Detention Center in 2002, while the two were in an open area of a group of cells.

Marble said fellow inmates made up the incident to get back at him for perceived slights, and that investigators did a poor job of examining the case before filing charges. He also claimed in his appeals that he had ineffective defense counsel - a claim rejected by state courts.

Prosecutors on the case have said they have no doubt that Marble is guilty, noting that the victim, a 13-year-old boy, and several other juvenile inmates all testified against him at the 2002 trial, which resulted in a conviction.

Marble was sentenced to 20 years in prison with 15 years suspended.

Marble is currently serving a prison term for violating the provisions of his parole in 2007 and for possession of dangerous drugs, which led to revocation of his parole. He said he will be eligible for parole next spring.

The Corrections Department had categorized Marble as a Level 3 sexual predator after his conviction, but Marble successfully challenged that classification in court this year. A judge agreed with Marble's contention that he should be Level 1, the lowest level of classification for a sex offender.


Copyright 2011 missoulian.com.

Ursus:
Cody Marble finally gets out on parole:

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Missoulian

Missoula man granted parole; still insists he did not rape fellow inmate

By MIKE DENNISON Missoulian State Bureau   missoulian.com |  Posted: Saturday, February 27, 2010 5:00 am

DEER LODGE - A Missoula man who has continued to proclaim his innocence in a 2002 jailhouse rape case was granted parole from prison Friday - after he completes a six-month drug treatment program at the State Prison.

The Board of Pardons and Parole voted unanimously to parole Cody Marble, 25, and encouraged him to move beyond his past drug-use problems and any beef with the criminal justice system.

"That's all now in the history books," said board chairman Mike McKee. "You're not a dumb guy; you're a pretty smart guy. You know right from wrong. ... It's time for you to take responsibility for your life."

"It's on your shoulders now," added board member John Ward of Helena. "You've got to carry the burden to be that law-abiding, taxpaying citizen that we all know you can be."

Marble, convicted by a jury of raping a 13-year-old fellow inmate at the Missoula County Youth Detention Facility in 2002, will be paroled from the State Prison once he completes a six-month treatment program for methamphetamine use.

Marble refused a plea bargain before his 2002 trial that would have kept him out of prison, saying he wouldn't plead guilty to a crime he didn't commit. He has maintained his innocence and fought unsuccessfully for several years to overturn the conviction.

In May 2008, the Missoulian State Bureau reported on questions raised about the trial and conviction, including statements from a detention facility guard and two Missoula sex-offender counselors who examined or treated Marble, and who said they felt he was innocent.

Prosecutors who worked on the case, however, have said they have no doubt that he's guilty.

The alleged 13-year-old victim and several other juvenile inmates testified at trial that Marble raped the boy in the jail-pod shower area. Marble says the witnesses made up the crime as retribution against him for perceived slights, or to attempt to curry favor with prosecutors.

Marble had been in the jail while waiting for placement in a new drug treatment program, after he had walked away from a residential youth treatment program in Marion.

*********

The rape conviction led to a 20-year prison sentence, with all but five years suspended. Several months after getting out of prison in 2007, Marble was arrested in Missoula for possessing and using methamphetamine.

The judge who presided over the rape trial sent Marble back to prison for another 10 years, for possessing methamphetamine and violating the terms of his probation.

Marble has been back in jail or prison since October 2007, and became eligible for parole after serving one-fourth of his 10-year sentence.

The board granted Marble's parole despite a prison case worker's recommendation that he be denied, because Marble refused to take a Level 2 sex-offender treatment in prison.

Marble said he refused the program because it would require him to admit to his crime, which he says he didn't commit. He said he would agree to treatment from a private Missoula counselor, who would accept him despite his denial of the crime.

Marble's father, Jerry Marble, said Cody would be living with him once he gets out on parole.

"I've noticed a real change in his demeanor," Jerry Marble told the Parole Board. "It's like he sees a light at the end of the tunnel. ... His anger has subsided, and he knows if he's going to win in life, he needs to address his drug problem."

Jerry Marble also said both he and Cody would continue to try to clear his name in the rape case.

 
Copyright 2011 missoulian.com.

Ursus:
A Letter to the Editor from Jerry Marble, Cody Marble's father, regarding a candidate for sheriff in a local election:

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Missoulian

Election: Giffin a poor choice for sheriff

Posted: Thursday, May 13, 2010 7:56 am

In his candidacy for sheriff, Brad Giffin uses the words "compassion" and "proper investigations."

In a May 27, 2006, Missoulian story about tasers' lethal potential, Giffin is quoted as stating that "people in states of excited delirium and exhaustive mania are most likely to exhibit negative effects after being tased. People who exhibit those behaviors are well on their way to dying anyway." So much for "compassion."

The case of my son, Cody Marble, reported on in Lee Newspapers several times since Mother's Day of 2008, has raised serious questions about Cody's court-appointed defense as well as prosecution. Equally important was the role of the detectives because that's where prosecution starts.

Giffin was the primary investigator. He interviewed the juvenile inmate "witnesses" once and ignored their conflicting statements, even after the original reporter of the alleged "rape" in the Juvenile Detention Center, who wasn't the alleged "victim" and who was in jail for accountability to murder, later admitted that he had lied. The prosecution reduced his charges to misdemeanors, gave him time served and no probation.

Neither Giffin, nor anyone else, ever interviewed the guards who were on duty that night. None of them has ever indicated a belief that this "rape" happened. Giffin never viewed the jail videos which showed no rape. There was no DNA and Giffin did nothing to investigate a plot, nor did he attempt to uncover plentiful exculpatory evidence. Giffin knows how to steer investigations toward convictions. Sometimes that means no investigation.

So much for "proper investigations."

Please join me in not voting for Brad Giffin for sheriff.


Jerry Marble, Missoula


Copyright 2011 missoulian.com.

Ursus:
Missoulian

Missoula man seeks to have rape conviction overturned after alleged victim recants testimony

By MIKE DENNISON Missoulian State Bureau   missoulian.com |  Posted: Tuesday, December 14, 2010 10:26 pm


Cody Marble stands outside the Missoula County Courthouse on Tuesday morning. Marble is filing a petition to overturn a 2002 rape conviction after the alleged victim recently recanted the accusation and testimony. "I just want my life back. I want my life back from parole, from sex offender registration, from this accusation," says Marble. Photo by LINDA THOMPSON/Missoulian

A Missoula man who has long proclaimed his innocence in a jailhouse rape case filed dramatic new evidence Tuesday with his latest petition to overturn his conviction: a signed statement from the alleged victim, saying the rape never happened.

Cody Marble, 26, convicted of rape eight years ago, said he hopes his latest challenge of that conviction will finally be the one that clears his name.

"I'm just glad it's finally happening," he said of the petition, which has been in the works for more than a year. "I just want my life back. I want my life back from parole, from sex-offender registration, from this accusation."

Marble was paroled from the Montana State Prison this summer and lives with his father in Missoula.

A District Court jury convicted Marble in November 2002 of raping a 13-year-old fellow prisoner at the Missoula County Juvenile Detention Facility earlier that year. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

In a statement filed Tuesday with Marble's petition, the alleged victim, now 22, says he was not raped by Marble and that he was told by other teenage prisoners in the detention center to make up the story to frame Marble for the crime.

"I testified falsely against Cody Marble at the trial," he said in his signed statement. "I thought by then that the story had gone too far and I could not go back. I never thought he would be found guilty or go to prison. ... My hope now is to set the record straight."

The 22-year-old man is an inmate at the Montana State Prison, serving a sentence for having sex with an underage girl. He could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Marble's petition, filed in state District Court at Missoula, asks the court to hold a hearing on the new evidence and either set aside Marble's conviction or schedule a new trial.

Missoula County Attorney Fred Van Valkenburg, who had seen the petition only briefly Tuesday afternoon, said it's surprising to see a victim recanting testimony eight years later.

"It's just one more thing that Cody Marble is trying to do to avoid responsibility for his case," Van Valkenburg said. "We're just going to have to deal with it."

The statement by Marble's accuser was obtained in July with the help of the Montana Innocence Project, a Missoula-based nonprofit group that investigates cases of possible wrongful convictions.

Marble's case is the first one involving the Montana Innocence Project that has led to formal filing of court documents seeking to overturn a conviction.

"Our investigation yielded information that supports his innocence and raised more questions, and we turned that over (to Marble's attorney)," said Jessie McQuillan, executive director of the Montana Innocence Project. "The centerpiece of the petition is that the alleged victim has recanted. He says what many people suspected: That the rape never took place."

McQuillan said the Innocence Project got involved about 18 months ago, in the wake of questions raised about Marble's conviction by those familiar with the case and by news coverage of his efforts to overturn it.

***

The Missoulian published a lengthy story in May 2008 about Marble's case, including questions raised by witnesses and sex-offender counselors who had examined him and doubted his guilt.

Innocence Project staffers and lawyers learned that the alleged victim was ready to denounce his trial testimony, and visited him at the state prison in Deer Lodge 11 months ago, McQuillan said.

"He told us it was time to recant and we got the signed statement in July, at a subsequent visit with him," she said.

The petition filed Tuesday also contains other evidence and statements that Marble said supports his case for exoneration.

Missoula sex-offender counselors Michael Scolatti and Roger Dowty, who have examined or treated Marble since his conviction and earlier expressed doubts that he was guilty, said the recantation from the alleged victim rings true and strengthens their belief that Marble is likely innocent.

A prisoner at the Missoula County Juvenile Detention Facility when Marble and the alleged victim were there also filed a statement that said a "culture of set-ups" existed in the center in 2002, and that Marble had repeatedly been mentioned as a possible victim of a sexual-assault set-up.

Those concocting the set-up thought it would somehow endear them to prosecutors and help them get their own sentences or charges reduced, the prisoner said.

The prisoner, who's incarcerated somewhere else in the state now, was not identified in the petition, and asked that his full statement be sealed from public view and revealed only to the court and lawyers for the state.

Marble has filed at least a half-dozen petitions to appeal or overturn his conviction, but so far every one has been rejected by either state or federal courts.

Marble said Tuesday he's still outraged over what happened to him, and "not for one second" thought about giving up the fight to overturn his conviction.

Marble's father, Jerry Marble, also said he's spent "everything I had" on investigators, lawyers and other expenses to try to exonerate his son.

Cody Marble had been in and out of juvenile facilities on various drug charges as a teenager, but had never been convicted of a violent crime or felony before the rape charge in 2002.

He must register as a sex offender and says that's made it difficult to find a job. He works now as a lot attendant at a local boat and recreational vehicle company.

"When you have to write down that you're a registered sex offender, I think they just throw (your job application) in the trash," Marble said. "It's kind of like prison outside of prison. ...

"I didn't think this could happen in America. I feel like the system has failed me."

Missoulian State Bureau reporter Mike Dennison can be reached at 1-800-525-4920 or at mike.dennison@lee.net.

 
Copyright 2011 missoulian.com.

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