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Suzanne Cohen and Patricia Stevens, two veteran homicide prosecutors with the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, have been chosen to receive the annual Jason Schechterle Outstanding Performance Award.
The two women will get the award at a September 29 banquet sponsored by the 100 Club of Arizona, a non-profit that, among many other things, provides aid to families of police officers and firefighters who lost their lives in the line-of-duty.
Cohen and Stevens worked on the high-profile case for years, actually since Phoenix police arrested Goudeau near his central Phoenix home on September 7, 2006.
Goudeau, who earlier had served more than 13 years in prison after almost killing a woman, was charged with nine murders (all but one of women) and dozens of other serious felonies in a year-long spree that terrorized the Valley.
The press release issued by the 100 Club includes the following paragraph:
"Cohen and Stevens spent hours scouring over the 15,000-page Departmental Report, hundreds of pages of lab reports and thousands of supplements generated from the 7,500 case tips. They were innovators in the courtroom, developing `Jury Books' which included short biographies of each witness and general highlights of their testimony.
"These books allowed juors to recall key information during this long and complicated trial, and are credited as a major factor in the jury's just decision on Goudeau."
The September 29 banquet at the Arizona Grand Resort in Tempe is open to the public.
It also will honor the Outstanding Firefighter, Outstanding Public Safety Officer, and Lifetime Achievement Award recipient.
As most area residents know, Jason Schechterle is a retired Phoenix cop who miraculously survived a horrific on-duty car accident caused when a speeding taxi driver rear-ended his Ford Crown Victoria cruiser. His remarkable recovery from serious burns and many other injuries has been well-documented, and continues to provide inspiration to people around the nation and the world.
