These comments droning about shoddy journalism were posted before the trial got into full swing. Since then, we have seen many of the Prosecution's own witnesses refute the testimony Sy ray provided to the Grand Jury making Mr. Martinez look completely inept. Also, for those following the trial, Sy ray hasn't even testified and the Defense has already started. Looks like it wasn't shoddy journalism after all and Sgt. Ray used this railroading to get a promotion. The GPD let him do this, proving they are all a bunch of bumbling douche bags.
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A Gilbert Detective Crossed the Line to Turn Doug Grant’s Wife’s Bathtub Drowning Into a Murder Case
By the way, DeWitt admitted to McDonald in an interview that she hadn't believed in Doug Grant's guilt until after Sy Ray convinced her otherwise.
• Detective Ray testified that Doug Grant had been persistent about getting the prescription for the Ambien from Chad White just as the physician assistant was about to leave the Grant residence on the early evening of September 27, 2001.
Faylene wrote this letter to her children shortly before she died in September 2001. (Click the image to view a larger version.)
The detective's implication was that Grant's murderous intentions already were in full flower when the couple had returned from Utah.
But in interviews before the grand jury met, Ray repeatedly failed to lure White into saying what he told the panel.
"You said he approached you about the Ambien," Ray told White in one of those interviews. "Do you remember that fairly well?"
White said he didn't, recalling, "I sat on the bed speaking to both of them. I wrote them the prescriptions. I don't remember how the Ambien thing came up."
• The damning meeting in the park between Doug Grant and Hilary DeWitt did occur — though not on the same evening as Faylene's death, as key prosecution witness Kari Handley is expected to testify secondhand.
Ray's account to the grand jury about what happened at the park was slanted.
Doug Grant told the detective in 2002 that he had met with Hilary primarily to give her the you-guys-get-married-immediately-after-I-die letter Faylene had written the pair one day before she plummeted off the Utah cliff.
Hilary, in her own interview with Ray, corroborated that Doug had handed her the peculiar letter at the park.
But neither Doug nor Hilary ever admitted to Ray that he had put his hands suggestively on her hips that night or, earlier, that he earlier had told Hilary to "wait for me" after remarrying Faylene.
Ray's sole source for both alleged inflammatory comments was Hilary's second cousin and former friend Handley.
Would Handley lie?
One thing is clear: She didn't like Doug Grant. She told Mel McDonald in a May 2007 interview that Doug always had given her the creeps, and she'd never understood the attraction that her cousin felt for the guy, who was 15 years older, short, and balding.
"So you got a gut feeling he's creepy, you got a gut feeling he's a killer, and there's nothing that you can put your hand on to tell you why you have those feelings?" McDonald asked Handley.
She responded that he was correct.
During Ray's July 2002 interview with Hilary at the Gilbert Police Department, he told the young woman, "I know about a conversation in August where Doug called you and . . . says, 'Hey, wait for me. I'll come through for you. Don't get serious [about another man].' I have a concern the night that Faylene dies, he meets you in a park and he gives you cash."
"Okay," Hilary replied.
"And one of the first things out of his mouth," the detective continued, "is he grabs your hips and says, 'Oh, I miss these.' That is not a normal response from somebody who just lost their wife. Correct me if I'm wrong with any of this information, but I'm pretty sure that it's a pretty good account of what happened."
"I guess you're right," Hilary said, her voice trembling. "I mean . . ."
Ray interrupted with, "Doesn't he call you in the middle of August and say, 'Wait for me. Don't get in a serious relationship'?"
"No," she said, "it was never like that. It was, 'I just want you to be strong.'"
One can bet that Hilary's beleaguered statement, "I guess you're right," will be paraded front and center at trial as proof that she was agreeing with Sy Ray.
She says she was doing nothing of the sort because the meeting in the park didn't happen that way.
Sy Ray told the grand jury that the final phone call Doug made on the night before Faylene died was to Hilary.
He also said Doug called his ex-girlfriend several times as his wife struggled to survive at the Mesa hospital.
That added fuel to the detective's theory that Doug had been hungering to return to the younger woman whom he had dumped a few months earlier to remarry Faylene.
But court papers filed by Doug's defense lawyer suggest that he will be able to show at trial that it is unlikely that Doug and Hilary spoke on the night the Grants returned from Utah, or when Doug was at the hospital.
The detective also made it sound to the grand jury as though Faylene's 11-year-old daughter Jenna was sure she'd seen Doug in the kitchen and had spoken to him minutes before he had sent her and her little half-brothers across the street.
Ray first spoke to Jenna in March 2002, more than five months after Faylene died, and the girl then told the detective she didn't recall many specifics about that terrible morning back in September.
Importantly, a videotape of the interview doesn't show Jenna saying anything about being sure of her recollections.
Ray's later explanation to defense lawyer McDonald about that troubling discrepancy was laughable — "I'm saying somebody turned off the tape because I'm in the room with her still when the tape goes off."
17 comments
Rubin's obvious bias toward grant is so obvious its beyond silly. You have tom read between the lines to read the facts; the evidence; and when you do that its pretty obvious what happened. The love of money is the root of all evil; and murder is the ultimate evil.
From other articles i have read; jim Mcelyea was set up by the eaves with the promise of a loan to get him out of safford for his and his boys safety. The loan was a hoax;the police needed a direct confession from grant and they set up this guy who; according to the news article; had been hounded by the eaves to testify. even though they had mcelyea draw up a business plan on how the money would be used to start a new business in another state. Sounds like he may have grounds for libel from this publication.
For the sake of time, which part of the article WASN'T biased? You don't know Doug Grant, you are some lame wanna be journalist. If you'd like to get to know some TRUTH about Doug Grant, please visit this website: http://www.topix.com/forum/cou...
You're probably not MAN enough to post this on your site, we'll see.
Once again your journalism is found wanting. I can't believe you still have a job after this. Bigotry abounds. Who cares if she is a "Mormom". What religion is everyone else in the story? Oh, I forgot, it doesn't matter. The fact is that 99% of us believe in a God and Heaven and Hell. So big deal if some of the players are "Mormon" in this story.
Next, where are the opinions of the victims family, and the prosecuting attorneys. This story came out because the defense probably asked you to write it to help Doug Grant in the minds eye of the public. This is not balanced journalism. It is a crucificion of a detective trying to do his job and it is done purely by the defense to try and show how incompetent the detective was as a defense for Doug Grant. Whether or not the detective was incompetent, which I think he was, does not preclude Doug Grant's innocence or guilt. Fair and balanced journalism is what it is, and this is definitely not fair or balanced. I hope you get fired for not doing your due diligence.
In the end Doug Grant will be convicted because the prosecutors wisely did not give their case away in a biased, slanted, news article. You will look like the foolish writer you show yourself to be.
I have read these stories about the death of Faylene Grant with great interest. They were VERY thought-provoking. I obviously have no idea if Mr. Grant is guilty as charged or not, though my gut tells me that he's only guilty of being a self-centered ass. I am very troubled by the actions of Detective Ray. My brother in law is a detective with a local agency (not Gilbert) and after reading the story said that, if the writer is being factual, Detective Ray ought to be bumped back to patrol ASAP rather than be promoted and praised. If you're going to "get" someone, get them clean, not the way he's trying to railroad this defendant. Let me also send my condolences to Faylene's family for their loss. Whatever happened, it was a tragedy.
Some of you make me sick. A woman has lost her life, children have lost there mother due to deciet , lies and manipulations, and all you can say is, boy what crooked cop.
Let's not overlook the fact; A young beautiful woman lost her life to a man that is more capable of understanding how meds affect our body then most. And while she continued to die her husband is coming and answering the door, suppositly in a panic. Obviously the man knew CPR, he is a qualified something right? You don't leave giving CPR. People have done Cpr to strangers for hours waiting for help & this man who loved this woman so much he married her twice, gave him 2 additional children, STOPPED doing CPR to come to the door.???? The police, emergency staff. DO NOT wait patienly at the door. They bust in. As well as a neighbor, she doesn't just wait for someone. I think this is Sad Journalism.
They only people in Vegas when they got married the 2nd time ; was Doug, Faylene and ther 2 beautiful boys. WHERE DO YOU THINK THESE PICTURES CAME FROM? DOUG.
DOUG.
DOUG!!!!
Since Faylene is no longer with us, and the boys I'm sure r not readers of the New Times yet.
SO ALL OF YOU READERS, DON'T YOU THINK THIS IS A LITTLE SLANTED. DOUG GRANT IS MANIPULATING THE PUBLIC JUST LIKE HIS WIFE. AND YOU WONDER HOW IT HAPPENED TO HIS WIFE;
IT JUST HAPPENED TO YOU.
Im actually still shaking my head in disbelief about this story..they can actually lie at grand jury proceedings? Isnt that the basis for the steriod/athlete convictions, perjury?? I cant even begin to fathom how this POS is getting away with lying to a grand jury, or even how a case with more holes than a civ could actually get this far..and here i thought the whole part of the process was to find the truth and punish the criminal..guess its to help ignorant, worthless cops have a chance at promotions...
Isn't this the same Doug Grant associated with Don Lapre and the Greatest Vitamin in the World? If so, where is the background on that?
I have read with interest the story of Doug and Faylene Grant. The whole thing is so far from the life our Father in Heaven wishes for us. Our time here is to be spent proving ourselves, proving our commitment to Our Father and loving those around us so they might learn of His plan for us.
My understanding is that if infidelity occurs in a marriage the person committing the act must show repentance by abandoning any relationship he/she has with another person. Never will a relationship developed through infidelity be recognized by our Father as one worthy of Celestial sanction.
I am so sorry for Faylene�s duping. I am so sorry that she missed the chance to raise her children; that she allowed the man she loved to convince her that she didn�t need to live, that he and a 19 year old child could do a better job of parenting than the heavenly ordained mother of those children could. With all Faylene�s prayer and study, I am surprised that she could believe she had the authority to �invite� an adulterer to sit at her table. While it is our responsibility to forgive those who trespass against us, only God can wash them clean and extend the invitation to sit at His table.
My prayers for the spirits of all misguided souls to turn God for truth and to listen to His voice for the answers, I pray that we won�t allow our selfish desires to confuse the simple truth that Our Father has given us. I am truly sorry that this unfortunate event ever occurred, but since it has, we need trust that God can make it right. Romans 8:28 �All things work together for good to those that love the Lord.�
Signed � MRS- New Mexico
What a horrible horrible display of journalism. You talk of a bad cop; what about a bad jounalist. Did you even allow the defense to give any input or even a statement? You should be fired for such a one sided article when there are real people, families and lives at stake here. Whether Doug is guilty or innocent, both sides should be reported by you.
After reading the first part of the story last week I was so anxious to read the second part of this article. All week I have been thinking to myself, and talking to some co workers who also have read the article and the big question we all had concerning this case was how did it even pass through the grand jury??? This is an obvious suicide case! and then this week�s article came out and hit it right on the nose , the answer we were waiting for�. A crooked cop tells a one-sided story to the jury and then lies multiple times to sway the jury to indict Mr. grant�Sergeant Ray sounds like the biggest scum bag crooked cop that has ever walked the streets. He should serve jail time for all of his misrepresentations and lies he told in front of the grand jury... Its funny how he was promoted for "solving a case" whatever happened to innocent until otherwise proven guilty in a court of law??? The only thing that has been solved is that Sergeant Ray is a sorry excuse for a Sergeant and a JOKE of a cop! How long can Mr. Ray and the family of Faylene get away with what they has done to the life of Mr. Grant? It blows my mind how just because of a little gold badge that he can get away with what he wants... how come no one has been brave enough to step up and call him out publicly until now??? Whats taken so long?
Surely for any student who has taken Psych 101, it's clear that Faylene was using religion as a rationalization to believe her life and kids were Ok with this sick sociopath. For starters, no man who is a sexual addict and cheated repeatedly on his wife is going anywhere near the Celestial Kingdom according to LDS doctrine. Sometimes we just believe what we have to in order to surrvive...My heart goes out to Fay and her family; we surrvived the sociopath in ours but clearly she did not.
What's with all the stories suddenly where you point out that the person is Mormon in the headline? How does that really have anything to do with the overall story? It's not like these are polygamy stories, now are they? I don't see you mentioning Arpaio's religion in the stories you write about him, what about that scam artist from last week? His religion wasn't mentioned in the headline either. I don't see Andy Thomas' religion making it into the headlines either.I could understand it when you had the stories on Thomas O'Brien, since his title was related to his religion, and part of the overall story was about how he acted, even though his title should have made him act differently. Making sure to place 'Mormon' near 'murder' in your headlines is just tackySorry, I have been a new times fan for almost 25 years, but this is a little annoying, and I'm not even religious, let alone Mormon.
So, let�s see if I�ve got this straight. Doug dumps his YOUNGER girlfriend, and remarries his wife because God is calling her to Heaven. He get�s the kids (without paying child support), the settlement money, and the life insurance money. There is only one stipulation. He has to MARRY the YOUNGER girlfriend after his wife dies. Oh yes, and the wife has never been happier!
Now poor Doug is being tried for murder because a corrupt cop has manipulated the grand jury!
Someone has got to put this fairytale to an end. Hopefully Juan Martinez can do that.
I DON'T APPRECIATE YOUR COMIC PORTRAYL PICTURES.I THINK THAT THEY ARE A INSULT TO A VERY BEAUTIFUL WOMAN.
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