Poisoned Probe

Was the investigation into McPheters' role thorough? Could a police officer secretly own a business where the poisoned meals were allegedly regularly prepared and not suspect anything untoward was going on?

What did Lau know about Foxglove, and when did he know it? Did Ovanessian and Yawczak ask their bureau chief for help? Were they denied that help? Did Lau fail to realize what was going on under him? Or was he truly cut out of the picture by Ribera because of an ongoing feud?

Why have Ovanessian and Yawczak yet to be disciplined? They were removed from the Foxglove investigation in 1994 -- some three years ago. Have the departmental charges against them already been shelved -- either to win their cooperation, or to ensure their silence?

What possible reason could Ribera have for throwing Ovanessian into the center of a politically charged case that, he must have known, would impede the Foxglove investigation?

Did Ovanessian and Yawczak develop blind spots or ignore exculpatory evidence because they were intent on the prospect of a Hollywood movie -- a movie whose prospects would be enhanced by guilty suspects?

If tests for digitalis were performed on the bodies in 1994, why were no arrests made until 1997? Were the tests not conclusive enough for arrests?

Why no murder charges? If the prosecution thinks there was intent to kill, why not charge the defendants with murder? Is the DA's evidence of murder-by-poison that weak?

How much of the poison theory can be traced to Roland Dabai, now a defendant after recanting his original statements on the purported digitalis plot, and Jerry Lama, who allegedly pressured Dabai to lie as part of a brotherly feud?

These are just a small sample of the tools the defense will use while trying to convince a judge or prosecutors to drop the charges before trial, or if the case is tried, to create reasonable doubt in the minds of jurors. None of these holes in the Foxglove probe means the defendants are innocent, and, of course, there is some evidence that suggests guilt.

Clearly, though, police delay and missteps have handed the defense tools it wouldn't normally possess, and that's the main reason no one involved in the official investigation wants to talk voluntarily about Foxglove. Foxglove is a poisoned case, in all the meanings that might attach to the term.