Janice Dodson

Case record: Janice Dodson

STATUS

Janice Dodson was sentenced to life in prison without parole on March 20, 2000.

Background

Janice Dodson was married to Bruce Dodson for three months.

Bruce Dodson was 48 at the time of his death. Janice Dodson worked at the same hospital as Bruce Dodson; she was a nurse and he was a lab tech. Bruce Dodson had been a loner until he met Janice. Friends said they made a great couple. Janice Dodson had been through a rough divorce after 25 years of marriage.

Janice Dodson’s ex-husband was J.C. Lee.

Janice Dodson was extradited to Colorado, tried in court, and convicted in the murder of Bruce Dodson. She did not take the stand at her trial. She gave her side of the story for the first time in an interview with Primetime’s Chris Cuomo.

The offence

Bruce Dodson was shot and killed while he and Janice Dodson were on a hunting trip. A witness who was a deputy sheriff from another state was camped nearby and heard several gunshots.

About thirty minutes later, the witness saw Janice Dodson walking back to her campsite, and the witness noticed shortly afterwards that Janice Dodson had changed clothes. The witness and Janice Dodson then had a conversation during which she denied hearing shots. She stated that her husband had not returned on time and that she was going to look for him. A few minutes later, the witness heard her calling for help. The witness found Janice Dodson next to the victim’s body, waving the victim’s orange hunting vest and throwing empty bullet shells near the body.

Investigators later discovered a shoe print in the mud near the suspected location of the shooter. The print was consistent with Janice Dodson’s boots.

A murder investigation determined the death involved three bullet wounds and involved a bullet hole through Bruce Dodson’s orange vest.

Investigation

Bill Booth and his partner Dave Martinez analyzed details about the last few days of Bruce Dodson’s life and concluded there was homicide.

Bill Booth theorized that Bruce Dodson was walking along a fence line when he was first fired upon. Booth stated that the bullet pierced his clothing but only grazed his skin. Booth stated that Bruce Dodson then took off his vest to wave it around and started yelling to tell people he was not a deer. Booth stated that Bruce Dodson was shot in the chest, and as he was falling, he was hit once more in the back. Booth stated that the third bullet struck a fence post before it hit Bruce Dodson. Investigators traced the bullet’s path to what they believed was the assassin’s nest, where they found a spent cartridge from a .308-caliber bullet. Neither Bruce nor Janice were hunting with such a weapon.

Investigators found that Janice Dodson had set up their campsite close to other hunters who had been there first.

Investigators traced a .308-caliber shell case approximately 60 yards from the body. They also found a .308-caliber bullet in the ground on the other side of the fence, creating a direct line from the location of the case to the body to the bullet.

Janice Dodson’s ex-husband J.C. Lee was camped three-quarters of a mile from the Dodsons, and investigators treated him as a suspect. Lee reported that while he was out hunting, someone stole his .308 rifle and a box of .308 cartridges from his tent.

Investigators returned during the summers of 1996, 1997, and 1998 and searched for the rifle and other evidence. They tried to search every place a weapon could have been hidden and combed the entire area, including ponds, with metal detectors in hope of finding the rifle; it was never found.

A forensic geologist consultation and geologic evidence were described as a critical part of the prosecution. During the final search of the pond near Lee’s camp, Al Bieber of NecroSearch International commented on the mud in and around a cattle pond near Lee’s camp. Investigators then used mud evidence to connect Janice Dodson to Lee’s camp around the time the rifle had been stolen.

Dried mud samples were obtained from the bog near the Dodsons’ camp, the area around a pond nearby the camp, and the human-made pond and runoff near Lee’s camp. Booth and Martinez packaged the dried mud from each location and sent the samples along with dried mud recovered from Janice Dodson’s overalls to the laboratory section of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation in Denver.

The samples were examined by Jacqueline Battles, a forensic scientist and lab agent. Battles concluded and later testified that the dried mud found on Janice Dodson’s clothing was consistent with the dried mud recovered from the pond near Lee’s camp. Battles concluded that the dried mud recovered from Janice Dodson’s overalls was not consistent with the mud bog or the pond near her camp.

Arrest

Janice Dodson was arrested and brought to trial.

Booth and Martinez went to Texas and served an arrest warrant on Janice Dodson. She was extradited to Colorado.

Trial

At the jury trial, the prosecution maintained that Janice Dodson either fired the shot that killed Bruce Dodson or aided and abetted her ex-husband in killing him.

The trial court submitted alternative theories to the jury. The trial court instructed the jury, as relevant here, that it had to find each element of first degree murder was proven beyond a reasonable doubt and the verdict had to be unanimous.

The prosecution maintained alternative theories that Janice Dodson committed first degree murder after deliberation either as a principal or as a complicitor.

A witness testified and investigators later discovered evidence including a shoe print in the mud consistent with Janice Dodson’s boots.

Janice Dodson did not take the stand at her trial.

The jury deliberated for 3 1/2 days, then found Janice Dodson guilty of first-degree murder after deliberation. The defendant’s conviction was entered on a jury verdict finding her guilty of first degree murder after deliberation.

Janice Dodson’s ex-husband Lee denied any involvement in the shooting and was never charged with a crime.

Sentencing

Appeals

Janice Dodson appealed the judgment of conviction entered on a jury verdict finding her guilty of first degree murder after deliberation.

The appeal was before the Colorado Court of Appeals, Div. I, No. 00CA0845. The People of the State of Colorado were the plaintiff-appellee. Janice Hall was listed as the defendant-appellant in the appeal caption.

The appeal included multiple contentions, including a contention that the trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury that before she could be convicted, all jurors had to agree unanimously which of the prosecution’s alternative theories supported the first degree murder count. Because the Court concluded the trial court did not err, it affirmed.

Appellate court decision: unanimity instruction and due process

The appellate court rejected the argument that the trial court erred in refusing the requested unanimity instruction about whether Janice Dodson was convicted as principal or as a complicitor.

The appellate court also rejected the contention that the failure to require unanimity about principal versus complicitor violated the defendant’s right to due process under the United States Constitution.

The appellate court further rejected the contention that the failure to require unanimity about principal versus complicitor deprived the defendant of her right to due process under the Colorado Constitution.

The appellate court rejected a contention that the failure to require unanimity about principal versus complicitor violated the right to a jury trial under Colo. Const. art. II, § 23.

The appellate court also rejected a contention that the trial court abused its discretion in allowing testimony about multiple personality disorder, but that she was not suffering from it at the time of the murder.

The appellate court affirmed the conviction, concluding that the unanimity and reasonable doubt instructions given at trial were proper and that a modified unanimity instruction was not required.

Outcome

The conviction was affirmed. The case included a judgment affirmed by the appellate court.

Janice Dodson was serving life in Colorado state prison without the possibility of parole.

Other details

Quotations

Janice Dodson’s statements included:

• “I still do [love Bruce Dodson]”
• “The only way I can live with this, is that I have the peace of knowing I didn’t do it, and the prayer in my heart that some day the truth will win out.”

A quotation attributed to Janice Dodson in connection with hearing that her husband had been found to have been shot included:

• “There was no reason to kill someone like Bruce,”
• “And then my next thought was that no one deserves to die like that.”

A quotation attributed to Janice Dodson about her ex-husband included:

• “J.C. didn’t care for anybody I ever dated … even after we were divorced.”

A quotation attributed to Booth included:

• “very suspicious.”

• “You don’t want to camp near other hunters,”

• “This is millions of acres up here and you don’t camp next to each other.”

• “We believe at that point, at that time, that's when she set the scene,”

• “She knew that this was going to be the murder area, up ahead.”

• “She’d taken out three insurance policies, she made sure to get wills done,”

A quotation attributed to Daniels included:

• “very suspicious.”

An additional quotation included from Investigator Booth during discussion of evidence:

• “The mud.”

A quotation attributed to Kyle included:

• “Is this your husband?”

• “Help — you've got to help him.”

• “She's crying and carrying on,”

• “I picked up the orange vest and was just screaming at him: 'Why didn't you have your vest on?' ”

Weapons and evidence

Police never found the weapon used to gun down Bruce Dodson. There were suspicions it may have been purchased at a gun show or found in the wood by a hunter.

A Model 700 Remington .308-caliber rifle with serial number D6844028 was referenced, with a request for information to call D.A. Investigator Bill Booth at (970) 244-1702.

Financial matters and alleged motive

Janice Dodson was described as having taken out three insurance policies and having wills done. It was stated that Bruce owned two homes, and that her property was put into both their names during the three months since they were married.

It was stated that only one month after Bruce’s death, Janice Dodson was gambling at the Players Club casino in Louisiana. It was stated that she closed his bank accounts, sold his home and another property, his car, and even his horse, Glory. It was stated that she cashed in his IRAs.

It was stated that police said Janice Dodson was badgering the life insurance companies to pay off his policies, even though they were only good for accidental death—not homicide.

It was stated that she remarried.

Names and legal actors (as stated in the appeal)

In the appellate brief portion, Ken Salazar was listed as Attorney General. Catherine P. Adkisson was listed as Assistant Attorney General for Plaintiff-Appellee. Richard A. Hostetler was listed for Defendant-Appellant.

The appellate court’s opinion was by Judge Rothenberg, with Judges Metzger and Kapelke concurring.

Time references in descriptions

The case narrative included that the case began on Oct. 15, 1995, when John Dodson was found dead while on a hunting trip with his wife of three months, Janice. The narrative described the scene as a crisp autumn morning in the Uncompahgre Mountains of western Colorado. The narrative also described returns during summers of 1996, 1997 and 1998 for additional searches.

Geologic discussion included as narrative detail

The narrative included general discussion of geologic features and was presented alongside the geologic evidence. It described bentonite clay in and around a cattle pond near Lee’s camp, and described mud consistency between Janice Dodson’s clothing and the pond near Lee’s camp.