(CN) - A woman who previously pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of the father of her children, who was found decapitated, now wants to change her plea. Her attorney suggested in a Las Vegas courtroom on Thursday that evidence had been tampered with.
Police arrested Devyn Michaels, who also uses the name Tracee Tavarez, in 2023 and accused her of murdering and decapitating Jonathan Willette at a home in Henderson, Nevada, after she said he tried to force her to perform a sex act on him.
Willette's head was never recovered.
Michaels pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last year. Two months later, she announced that she intended to withdraw her plea.
On Thursday, Michaels' new lawyer cross-examined her old lawyer in Clark County's Eighth Judicial District Court.
"During conversations that I had with Ms. Michaels, she said part of the reason she's doing this is because she was shown only two photographs in this case, and they were shown to her by detectives. Did you ever show her any photographs?" asked Clark Patrick, Michaels' new attorney.
Melissa Oliver, Michaels' previous attorney, said that she had shown her pictures and video evidence.
"She was given a great deal of discovery, yes," Oliver said.
Investigations into text messages on different devices between Willette and other people were also done, Oliver added. Investigators concluded that there was nothing of value in them.
"Did she mention somebody that had been arguing with John over money?" Patrick asked.
That was investigated as well, Oliver said.
"She mentioned a lot of things that John might have had. Many people trying to harm him," she added.
When asked if one of Michaels' confessions might have been coerced since she was under suicide watch in jail when he gave it, Oliver said that information was given to false confession experts to consider.
"There was a suggestion in Mr. Patrick's motion that wasn't really raised here, so I want to address it to make the record complete. The allegation is that she believes evidence was tampered with. There's no real context to that. Based on your investigation and your review of everything, was there any indication to you that evidence had been tampered with in any way?" asked Deputy District Attorney John Giordani.
Even though she said she knew what that was referring to, there is no indication that any evidence was tampered with, Oliver said.
In one of the interviews Michaels gave, she said something to the effect of "she needed the victim out of the way" because of a child custody issue, Giordani said.
"I'll use the word confession. That's very strong evidence against the defendant. You would agree with me there?" he added.
The evidence would be difficult to bring in front of a jury, Oliver said.
"Her statements are strong evidence against her, yes," she added.
Clark County District Court Judge Tierra Jones said she would reread the motions and issue a written decision from her chambers.
According to 8NewsNow, Las Vegas police arrested Michaels on a child abuse or neglect charge in 2022 when a worker at a childcare facility reported an 8-year-old with bruising on her leg. In 2023, Clark County District Court Judge Mary Kay Holthus sentenced Michaels to one year of probation on the child abuse charge on Aug. 9, after Michaels is alleged to have killed Willette.
Source: Courthouse News Service
