JEFFERSON COUNTY - The disgraced former state senator and candidate for Mesa County sheriff who took the witness stand on Tuesday morning in Michael Blagg’s second trial was called out by the defense for referring to himself as the “lead detective on the case” — something contrary to what he said moments before.
Steve King, who worked at the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office during the investigation into Jennifer and Abby Blagg’s disappearance, made the assertion that he was in charge of the case on both his campaign website and his biography for the Colorado Senate Republicans, according to evidence submitted by Public Defender Tina Fang.
Photos of Michael, Jennifer and Abby Blagg
“I didn’t write that,” King said during sometimes tense cross-examination on Tuesday morning, after he told Fang that Mesa County Det. George Barley was actually the one who could be considered in charge of the investigation. He later admitted that the note on the website was incorrect, but Fang continued to refer to him as a “lead” during what would become hours of cross-examination.
In the grand scheme of things, it’s a small detail, but small details like this have become the crux of what has now become a four-week (and counting) second trial for Michael Blagg, who was found guilty of his wife Jennifer’s murder in 2004.
That conviction was overturned after a juror was caught lying on her questionnaire about being the victim of domestic violence. This means the now-55-year-old is facing a jury once again — this time in Jefferson County, where the case was moved due to its notoriety on the Western Slope.
A lot has happened in the 14 years since King first testified against Michael Blagg. He was elected to the Colorado State House of Representatives in 2006, and the State Senate in 2010. While running for Mesa County sheriff, he was accused of forging timecards during part-time work for the department and Colorado Mesa University. He ultimately dropped out of the race and pleaded guilty to embezzlement and official misconduct.
The defense has tried to admit as much evidence as possible to undermine King’s credibility. The District Attorney’s Office has argued that this is irrelevant.
King first encountered Michael Blagg the afternoon of Nov. 13, 2001. This was moments after Blagg called 911 and said he came home from work to find the backdoor ajar. He said jewelry was strewn on the floor of the master bedroom, and there was a large splatter of blood on his wife’s side of the bed.
Jennifer Blagg and their 6-year-old daughter Abby were gone.
That afternoon, King saw Michael Blagg in an ambulance. Later, he conducted multiple interviews with a man who he first treated as a victim and later a suspect in formal settings as well as restaurants and parks in Grand Junction. The pair even drove to Utah together at one point, just to talk.
The prosecution played a 23-minute interview King conducted with Michael Blagg in his patrol car, with dispatch audio blaring in the background. Fang took issue with this particular piece of evidence, arguing it was a small snippet of a three-hour interview.
What the prosecution wanted to show the jury was a portion of the conversation which dealt with what King called a “dark side” to Jennifer and Michael Blagg’s relationship.
“I need to know what you haven’t told me …,” King tells the then-38-year-old. “You painted a rosy picture.”
“I’ll tell you about the embarrassing part of our relationship,” Blagg said after a short pause.
Michael Blagg then goes into his wife’s hysterectomy and issues that they had in their sex life. He claimed they watched porn to come up with “ideas” and that his wife used to have mood swings that would culminate in fights.
The next interview shown by the prosecution was at the Shake, Rattle and Roll restaurant on Jan. 25, 2002. King tells Michael Blagg that investigators are considering bringing in cadaver dogs, and that they no longer believe there’s much hope his wife and daughter were still alive.
During the prosecution’s snippet of the interview, Michael Blagg is heard talking about missing jewelry that he had insured, as well as whether he could claim Jennifer and Abby Blagg as his defendants on his tax return for all of 2001.
“The last thing I want is any trouble with the federal government, OK?” Blagg is heard saying.
The cross-examination of King took substantially longer than his direct examination. The prosecution tried to limit what exactly King was asked about, Fang would argue back and Judge Tamara Russell often had to jump in during at-times contentious exchanges.
The trial is already two weeks behind schedule, and Russell has worked with the attorneys to move things along, especially since multiple witnesses have flown in from out of town and have limited time in the area.
At one point, as King struggled to answer questions from Fang amid a slew of objections from the prosecution, Russell sent the jury out of the room, sarcastically exclaiming, “I know everyone wants to do my job.”
She admonished the attorneys, who spent much of the morning going back and forth about the scope of King’s testimony. And then, she directed her attention to the witness himself.
“Mr. King, you’ve gotta answer the question,” she said. “It’s getting painful.”
The defense cited King’s lack of credibility during opening statements, and Fang continuously sought to impeach King during testimony.
She also brought up a report King wrote when he went with Michael Blagg to his house for the first time since his wife and daughter were reported missing.
In the report, King wrote that Michael Blagg teared up and seemed hesitant to look at the master bedroom. He sat at the kitchen table and started to cry, and later picked up one of Abby’s jackets and sobbed.
Abby Blagg’s body has not been found to this day.
Her mother’s remains were found in the Mesa County landfill on June 4, 2002. Michael Blagg was arrested two days later.
And it was a few months after this that FBI Special Agent Chris Buechner received Michael Blagg’s computers in the mail. He was called to the witness stand shortly before lunch.
“It’s been a long morning,” Russell said as she swore him in.
Buechner’s testimony will continue when the jury returns from the lunch break at 1 p.m. 9NEWS is in the courtroom and will post another update on the Michael Blagg trial at the end of the day.