Attorney alleges illegal search of accused kidnapper’s hotel room, asks for dismissal
The man accused of kidnapping an 8-year-old girl as she walked with her mom in a Fort Worth neighborhood in May has requested the case against him be dropped.
Michael Webb has pleaded not guilty to a federal charge of kidnapping.
In three motions, Webb’s attorney, John Stickney, asked a judge in Fort Worth to dismiss the case, suppress evidence and change the location of the trial if it happens.
More details about what police say happened on May 18 were released within the motion to suppress — including that multiple people reported to Woodsprings Suites management that a car matching the suspect’s description was parked outside. Just after midnight, two officers from the Forest Hill Police Department went to the hotel.
Officer Richardson Wolfe and another officers knocked on room No. 333 and, when no one answered, tried to use a key card given to them by hotel staff. The card didn’t work, so Wolfe went back to the front desk to get another one.
The door unlocked the second time but was latched from the inside.
Wolfe told Webb that the officers needed to check his room for the missing girl and Webb told them they could not go inside.
Both officers spent close to 17 minutes trying to talk their way into the room. Once inside, Wolfe checked the fridge, the bottom cabinets, the bathroom and squatted down to see under the bed.
He said he didn’t find the girl and the officers left. Wolfe was later fired by the department.
Two hours later, on another tip, officers from the Fort Worth Police Department and Homeland Security went to the hotel. Wolfe, who went with the officers, pointed out the suspect’s car and said he didn’t believe a brown spot on the seat was blood.
Fort Worth officers went to room No. 333 and forced their way inside after Webb again didn’t open the door. They placed Webb under arrest and found the girl. The document does not say where the girl was found or how she wasn’t found the first time the room was searched.
The motion also argues that Webb was interrogated for hours and struggled to stay awake. It asks the judge to suppress any evidence found during the second search of the room, claiming the search violated Webb’s Fourth Amendment rights for an expectation of privacy because officers didn’t obtain a warrant for the search and didn’t have probable cause.
It also asks that the court suppress anything Webb said during the interrogation, including an interrogation that allegedly happened while Webb was being driven to a meeting with his attorney.
Change of venue
Stickney also argues that pretrial coverage by local media that portrays Webb “in a bad light” will taint any potential jury pool.
“Webb’s case is intrinsically shocking and inherently invokes the passion of the Fort Worth community,” Stickney wrote in the motion. “Webb is accused of taking an eight-year-old girl while she walked down the street with her mother. Michael Webb’s charge naturally arouses the passion of the community as well because Fort Worth has the highest population of children in Tarrant County and is a tight knit community.”
After information about the kidnapping began to make it onto social media, residents of the Ryan Place and Fairmount neighborhoods turned out in droves to look for the missing girl. Ultimately, two men who attend a church in the community directed police to a motel in Forest Hill where the girl and Webb were found, according to police.
The motion suggests that the trial be moved to another county, such as Dallas County, where the population is higher and the chance of finding 12 impartial jurors is greater.
The motion also alleges that there is a prejudice already instilled in Fort Worth because the alleged crime was against a child. Stickney specifically pointed out comments that were left on Fort Worth Star-Telegram articles that called Webb a “sick, perverted idiot” and called for Webb to be killed.
“I say kill them within 30 days of general pop and solitaire confinement. We don’t need to support them. Let them have the parents of the girl pull the switch,” one commenter wrote.
“Kill that A-Hole,” another wrote.
“These are very clear biases that indicate the community has already decided their verdict,” the motion says.
A judge is expected to rule on the motions no later than Sept. 6. Webb is set for a jury trial on Sept. 23. The trial has already been rescheduled once.
This story was originally published September 4, 2019 at 12:46 PM.
