Back in May 2005, I was living with a friend who happens to be a cop. On Tuesday the 10th I was headed to work and noticed three helicopters hovering over an area not far from the I-17 freeway; I knew enough then to know something was very, very wrong. I got home that evening to the news that Phoenix police officer David Uribe, a 22-year veteran of the force, had been shot in the neck, face and head during a “routine” traffic stop. Worse, police had little to go on other than the information that Uribe had given his TRO (dispatcher) just before he was killed.
When my friend got home, we talked about how no traffic stop is ever really routine. Officers are taught never to become complacent because you never know what that driver may be thinking or planning. Most people in the general public–particularly self-absorbed asshats like Steven Anderson–don’t stop to think about this before giving an officer grief for pulling them over. I was reminded of this every time my friend came home late. I was sharply reminded of it when another friend, a cop whom I’d known since long before he put on a badge, was also killed in the line of duty during a supposedly routine traffic stop. The press always calls it routine. Then again, they still report that Tony served in Iraq when he never went (though he served his country with distinction and pride).
Uribe’s widow, Kerry, said later that she knew the instant she saw David’s partner at the door that he was gone. She said that she’d already shut down by the time they reached the hospital. After leaving the scene of a suicide, Uribe pulled over a Chevy Monte Carlo with plates that had been stolen from a Scottsdale dealership. When his TRO asked him where he was, he didn’t respond. Seconds later witnesses to the shooting call 911, saying that he’s been shot in the head and doesn’t look alive; one bystander with medical training attempted to help, but Uribe was likely spared the pain upon the first bullet’s impact.
Two of the detectives assigned to the case–Jack Ballentine and Alex Femenia–had been cops longer than I’d been alive. As they were examining the scene a patrol officer discovers the Monte Carlo, hood up, several hoses pulled from their tanks, the gas cap removed and newly-spent .380 shells on the pavement. They found that it, too, had been stolen and they had a location for the thief. Inside they found a receipt for a local Denny’s restaurant and hit the jackpot with security camera images of two men who fit the suspect descriptions, and the images made it on the evening news. I remember watching it. One tip, from the mother of a barely-legal woman, turned up the main suspect: Donald “Donnie” Delahanty, then 18. He’d been bragging to everyone he knew that he’d kill any cop who pulled him over.
Within 48 hours, Donnie Delahanty and his friend Chris Wilson were in custody after a near-sleepless investigation. Johnny Armendariz, who’d been sitting in the back seat during the crime and wordlessly walked away from the other two as they attempted to burn the car (hence the dislocated hoses, open gas tank and shell casings), turned himself in and testified against them. David York, an Arizona State corrections officer who was on administrative leave after “pissing hot” for methamphetamines (meaning he failed a drug test), was sentenced this past November to three and a half years in prison for helping the two men by hiding a gun and burning their blood-stained clothes in his barbecue pit. Witnesses, including Armendariz–the only one in the car who didn’t lie or try to hide–proved that Delahanty had reached across Wilson from the passenger seat and shot Uribe in the face.
Today, after his defense attorney tried to pin the blame on Wilson as the shooter, Donald Delahanty was found guilty by a jury. A friend sent me a text message as soon as she left the courtroom to give me the news.
I followed this case from the time it broke until now. Reports show that Delahanty and Wilson were involved in running meth from Tucson to Phoenix; Wilson had somehow escaped trouble until the shooting. More than making one feel absolutely invincible, meth makes a user absolutely paranoid; that is the only motive that anyone has ever come up with to explain Delahanty’s actions, but unfortunately it’s not farfetched. What’s most sickening about the whole incident is that had they simply sat through the traffic stop, Uribe likely would have taken the plate, issued tickets to each of them and let them go. Delahanty probably wouldn’t have gone to jail. And David Uribe’s family–including a son who is also a Phoenix officer–would not still be in mourning for the years lost with David.
Next month, the hearing will go into the penalty phase. The jury will decide whether there are aggravating factors that make it necessary to put Delahanty to death for his crime. My only gripe is that he’ll be allowed to live, bitch and appeal for at least fifteen years at our expense. But there is some justice, and David Uribe is the hero that human debris like Donald Delahanty will always despise.
steveflesher
Philip
Mel Maguire
Mark Ciavola
Comments
“My only gripe is that he’ll be allowed to live, bitch and appeal for at least fifteen years at our expense. ”
Mel, I do not favor the death penalty. But, in this case I might be able to go for it. Killing a police officer is different. I can’t express why I feel it is different. It is one of those things that just is.
Mel I am also on the fence about the death penalty. I did not mind when it was Ted Bundy or John Wayne Gace but sometimes when it is someone lets say in Texas who killed maybe one person in a robbery, I have my doubts. I was not bothered when it was Tim McVeigh either.
In Illinois we had a lot of wrongful convictionss and former Gov. George Ryan let everyone on death row off because too many mistakes were being made.
I would suggest this question be considered: how old are the cases in which inmates are being released after being vindicated? And this one: in each of those cases, was it DNA evidence that vindicated the accused?
These days, our technology is amazing. Something as tiny as a hair or a few dead skin cells can point to who may have been involved in a crime. That’s why some inmates are being released–because current technology can tell us what the lack of technology couldn’t.
In this case, all of the evidence–from witnesses to the crime to security cameras at a restaurant, shell casings, forensic evidence and statements made by the accused–proved that Chris Wilson was driving, Donnie Delahanty was in the front passenger seat and Johnny Armendariz was in the backseat. Here’s something I didn’t mention in the original post: Armendariz was one of Delahanty’s friends, yet he hardly knew Wilson. He’d barely met the guy. But instead of fingering the guy he didn’t know, he pointed out that it was actually his friend who had committed the crime.
That same friend, in his initial statement to police, turned on Armendariz and tried to say first that Johnny had been the shooter. If that had been the case, Johnny would have had to lean into the front seat, something that would have immediately caught Uribe’s attention and he would have likely had time to get away.
Delahanty’s attorney tried to point out that shell casings were found on the driver’s side floor, but since Delahanty had to reach across Wilson to shoot, that would be normal. After first pointing the finger at Armendariz, Delahanty then turned on Wilson (the officer talking to Delahanty pressed him to fess up because the evidence proved Armendariz couldn’t have been the shooter). He said Wilson had been the one to shoot Uribe, but everyone who knew the two said that for months Delahanty had been bragging that he wanted to kill a cop.
Delahanty’s father and brother appeared on the news last night and both said that they knew for a fact that Donnie didn’t shoot Uribe. That is complete bullshit–the only way they could possibly know for absolute certain was if they were there. That’s why I never pay heed to the arguments of the accused or their families. The family is always willing to give the killer the benefit of the doubt.
In this case, it’s been proven that only two of the men in the car could have done it. The witness sitting in the back, having not spoken to Wilson after the shooting and having never hidden or lied about the incident, gave the exact same story that Wilson gave.
“In Illinois we had a lot of wrongful convictionss and former Gov. George Ryan let everyone on death row off because too many mistakes were being made.”
afrocity
I am aware of what was happening in Illinois and it is unfortunate. There is one important thing to remember about wrongful convictions.
If I commit a crime and I am convicted of that crime, then do you think I am going to push hard to have my conviction overturned? I might if I am crazy. I might if I am sentenced to a long term in prison and this is my one chance to get out. What do I have to lose if I am serving 25 to life or worse?
But, since I did commit the crime then I sure hope no new evidence surfaces (e.g. DNA) that digs my grave even deeper on the crime I am doing time for or other crimes that are unsolved.
My point with this is our prisons are not full of innocent people. It is sad when an innocent person is convicted of a crime. But I fear the public perception is only innocent people go to the slammer and the criminals roam free. It is not like that. For every inmate screaming for DNA testing to prove innocence there are hundreds more who don’t want to go there becasue they know they are guilty.
“Mel I am also on the fence about the death penalty. I did not mind when it was Ted Bundy or John Wayne Gace but sometimes when it is someone lets say in Texas who killed maybe one person in a robbery, I have my doubts. I was not bothered when it was Tim McVeigh either. ”
You’ve pointed out some of the quirks of the death penalty. Serial killers are in the needle worthy group. But what about Susan Smith and Andrea Yates? The latter commited one of the most henious crimes in my lifetime. But she escaped the death penalty and eventually won on an insanity defense.
That’s the trouble with the death penalty in my opinion. It can be a very arbitrary sentence when compared to other crimes.
Both Smith AND Yates should have been given the death penalty.
Smith especially, because she did it, tried to cover it up, and lied. She knew what she did was wrong. I don’t give a rat’s derierre if she was depressed or if she’s a woman–she knew perfectly damn well what she was doing. And Yates? Oy.
“Both Smith AND Yates should have been given the death penalty. ”
Susan Smith never faced the death penalty. But if her ex husband had done the same thing, then what do you think he would have faced?
Oy on Adrea Yates is right. In spite of her alleged post partum psychosis, she conconted a plan to murder her children, she put the plan into motion, and she saw it through all the way. Then she dials 9-1-1 and tells the dispatcher what she did.
Where I live we a cop killer who has evaded prosecution due to mental illness. On 4-25-1998 officer David Chetcutti was gunned down in the line of duty. The shooter sits in a state mental hospital too sick to stand trial.
Never mind he ordered the murder rifle through the mail. He assembled the gun. He test fired it to see if it worked properly. He then went out and killed officer Chetcutti.
This supposedly mentally ill man who is too ill to stand trial sure had the acumen to do the above. 11 years later he still sits in a mental hosptial while the Chetcutti family waits for justice.
Now that is definitely something I’ll look into. I hadn’t heard of that, but I’ll be calling for police reports this weekend!