'Person of interest' is a baffler

Lawyer says phrase same as 'suspect,' but police disagree

Julie Poppen, Rocky Mountain News

Monday, August 20, 2007

Willie Clark is what the cops call a "person of interest" in the slaying of Denver Bronco Darrent Williams in the early-morning hours of New Year's Day.

Lester Ralph Jones and Rob Dixon are "persons of interest" in the case of Paige Birgfeld, who disappeared in Grand Junction on June 28.

And longtime businessman Omar Ahmad Duwaik, of Aurora, is a "person of interest" in his ex- wife's slaying in 1997.

Yet none of the four has been charged with a related offense or even named a suspect.

So what exactly is a "person of interest" in a crime?

"It's 21st century-speak for suspect," said Denver attorney Scott Robinson, who represents Rob Dixon in the Birgfield case. Robinson also writes columns on legal issues for the Rocky Mountain News.

But police say the terms aren't always interchangeable.

Though persons of interest often graduate to suspects and are charged with a crime, police may use the phrase because they're trying to find someone of a certain description who happened to be near the scene of a crime.

It could refer to a suspect's friend, they say. Sometimes a person of interest can be ruled out as a suspect after investigation.

Label can be harmful

Often, though, police use the term when they have their eye on someone but don't have enough evidence to file charges.

And however it's intended, the label can scar the reputation of a person who ultimately is cleared of any role in a crime.

Just how the phrase became a staple of copspeak is unknown.

"We have phrases that seem to come into popularity out of nowhere, such as 'perp walk' and 'person of interest,' notes Robinson.

Most experts, though, point to the bombing during the Olympics in Atlanta in 1996 as the point when police began using "person of interest" in place of "suspect."

The FBI leaked the name of security guard Richard Jewell as a possible suspect in the bombing. He was later cleared and sued various news outlets over the damage to his reputation.

CNN agreed to pay an undisclosed amount to Jewell and his mother to forestall a lawsuit.

NBC also reached an out-of- court settlement with Jewell, paying him an amount The Wall Street Journal reported as more than $500,000.

Some attorneys and pundits believe investigative agencies became wary of using "suspect," turning to "person of interest" as a milder reference.

Jack King, staff lawyer with the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said some agencies may mistakenly believe that using the term buffers them from liability if a person attempts to sue.

But he said police are no more or less liable if they call someone a person of interest or a suspect.

"Why don't they just call the person the suspect?" King said. "If they don't have any evidence, they should really shut up and not drag that person's name through the newspaper and the 5 o'clock news."

Littleton police Sgt. Trent Cooper said sometimes the term is used "to downplay things a little bit."

"If you say 'suspect,' it may force people to go on the run," Cooper said.

Denver police use the term when they don't have enough evidence for an arrest or to get help from the public in finding an important witness, spokesmen say.

Other investigators say they use the term with a specific individual's name in an effort to gather more information in a case they are struggling to build.

"You don't really want to use 'suspect' until you have enough information or proof to charge someone with a crime," said Detective Chris Chambers, of the Hamilton County, Tenn., Sheriff's Office, who is investigating Duwaik.

Duwaik, part owner of wireless cable television firm TVCN and a former aerospace engineer, had reported his wife, Mona, missing in New Jersey in 1997, the year they were divorced, he said in a recent interview.

Her body was found in January 1998 in an illegal dump in Hamilton County. Her remains were identified in 2003.

Hamilton County investigators searched his Aurora home in 2005, taking files and computers.

He said they broke three doors even though family members could have assisted with the locks.

So far, no charges have been filed against him. He said the search and the labeling of him as a person of interest have been painful.

"I would like the police to be less abusive and take into account the feelings of the people they are trying to search," Duwaik said.

Chambers, the Tennessee investigator, said Duwaik is still considered a person of interest.

Public perception

Both ex-husbands of Paige Birgfeld have been labeled persons of interest in her disappearance.

"If I have a client as fully cooperative as Rob has been," Robinson said, referring to Dixon, " it is troublesome that he's still in a list of persons of interest."

Because of the label and public perception of Dixon, "He doesn't feel Grand Junction is a locale he would like to make his future home," Robinson said.

Mesa County sheriff's spokeswoman Heather Gierhart said neither Dixon nor Ron Biegler, Birgfield's other ex-husband, is among the group of people investigators are focusing on, but both are still considered persons of interest.

Investigators have twice searched the home of another person of interest, Lester Ralph Jones, 56, of Grand Junction.

Gierhart would not say whether Jones was in the group of people investigators are focusing on.

G. Kristian Miccio, a former prosecutor in New York and now a professor at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, said police most often use the term to avoid appearing overzealous.

But she said it's tough for a person to get rid of the label once it's been widely publicized.

"There's a taint, like indelible ink," Miccio said. "You can't wash it off."

How agencies use 'person of interest'

• Colorado Springs: Police err on the side of caution by not releasing specific names of persons of interest, said Lt. Skip Arms. Telling the public they have a person of interest, however, shows progress in a case, he said.

• Denver: Police use the term when they are investigating someone but don't have enough evidence for an arrest, said Lt. Ronald Saunier. Or they may use the label to get the public's help in finding a vital witness, spokesman Sonny Jackson said.

• Colorado State Patrol: Investigator Kelly Pickering said the term can have many meanings. For example, the agency identified Anchondo Gomez as a person of interest in a car wreck that left former University of Colorado quarterback John Hessler badly injured in 2003. The Chevy Blazer involved in the crash was registered to Gomez. But Pickering to this day doesn't know whether Gomez was driving. "You hesitate calling him a suspect. It's just a person of interest, somebody you want to talk to," Pickering said. Gomez has not been found.

Recent persons of interest

• Lester Ralph Jones: Labeled a person of interest by Mesa County authorities in the disappearance of 34-year-old Paige Birgfeld, a mother of three who sold kitchen goods and worked as an escort. She was last seen June 28 at her Grand Junction home. Jones, 56, has not been arrested or charged in connection with her disappearance. His home has been searched twice.

• Willie Clark: Labeled a person of interest by Denver police in connection with the New Year's Day slaying of Denver Bronco Darrent Williams. Williams was shot as he left a nightclub. Clark, 25, is being held on federal drug charges. He was picked up in January a few days after Williams was shot. He has not been charged in Williams' murder.

• Aaron Thompson: Considered a person of interest by Aurora police in the disappearance of his daughter, Aarone, who was reported missing in 2005. She would have been 6. His girlfriend, Shely Lowe, also was a person of interest. She died in May 2006 of a heart condition. Thompson, 39, faces 60 charges in a grand jury indictment, including child abuse resulting in the death of Aarone.

• Gregory Parker: Considered a person of interest in the January 2004 slaying of Littleton shopkeeper Rhonda Holland, 46. Parker was sentenced to 60 years in prison in the stabbing death of his wife, Barbara, on Valentine's Day 2004. He has not been charged in the Holland murder.

• Steven Schryver: Considered a person of interest in the murder of Rhonda Holland. At the time, Schryver was a transient staying at the nearby Essex House Motel. Holland's stolen car was found parked outside the motel. Investigators arrested Schryver on an outstanding trespassing warrant from Fremont County and questioned him, but he was not arrested in Holland's murder and was cleared as a person of interest. He has since died.

• Omar Ahmad Duwaik: Sheriff's investigators from Hamilton County, Tenn., in 2005 labeled Duwaik, 63, of Aurora, a person of interest in the 1997 disappearance and bludgeoning death of his former wife, Mona. Investigators searched his Aurora home and his cable television company in 2005, but he has not been charged. Mona Duwaik's body was discovered in January 1998 in an illegal dump a few miles off Interstate 75 in Hamilton County. She was not identified until 2003.

poppenj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5176