The attorney for four adopted children of a former Department of Child Safety case manager and a Cochise County Sheriff’s Office dispatch supervisor accused of numerous acts of child abuse is opposing a demand by one of the defense attorneys for access to the children’s mental health, medical, and DCS records.
On May 18, victim-rights attorney Lynne Cadigan challenged a request by Michael Storie, attorney for Monica Campbell who wants years of records involving the children. As a result, it’s uncertain if the parties will be ready for a trial this year in the cases against Campbell, her husband Brian Campbell, and their biological daughter Jade Campbell.
“(Michael) Storie has no reasonable argument that the records would provide exculpatory evidence that the abuse did not occur,” Cadigan wrote to Presiding Judge James Conlogue of the Cochise County Superior Court. “The real reason for this ‘request’ is to delay the trial and attempt to humiliate the victims once again.”
Cadigan also noted that under the Arizona Victims’ Bill of Rights a victim of a crime has the right to refuse to be interviewed or deposed by a defendant.
“Storie represented to this court that the defense to the 20 counts of aggravated assault, child abuse, child neglect, and endangerment is that the children are habitual liars,” Cadigan wrote “The law is well settled that the Defendants cannot establish a victim’s character trait, such as lying, through the testimony of the victim’s doctor, or psychologist, or by using the victim’s medical records without the victim’s consent.”
Cadigan is a well-known victim’s rights attorney who frequently represents victims in several high-profile cases, such young Devani Rose who is believed to have been sexually abused by one foster parent before DCS allowed her adoption by a woman who is now serving a 15-year prison term for causing the girl to be critically burned.
In Cochise County, she also represents some of the children of Paul Douglas Adams, a U.S. Border Patrol agent who killed himself in December 2017 while in a federal detention center awaiting trial on multiple counts of child molestation and child pornography.
Local bishops of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints admitted to federal investigators they knew Adams was abusing one of his daughters but did not report the molestation to authorities. It was later revealed that Adams also molested an infant daughter born after he was ex-communicated.
In the Campbell case, Cadigan has been approved by the judge to be advised by prosecutor Michael Powell of any planned plea deals and sentencing stipulations. She is also tasked with advising the Court of the children’s positions on those issues.
When the criminal case is done, many court observers expect Cadigan to file civil actions against DCS and Cochise County officials for the handling of numerous reports dating back to 2016 of alleged abuse in the Campbell household.
Arizona Daily Independent reviewed several CCSO incident reports involving the Campbells. The reports show a family in turmoil for several years, but the first serious allegation of abuse appeared to occur in December 2016 when one of the boys reached out to his high school counselor.
According to that incident report, the boy told a deputy that DCS had been to the Campbell home before but “nothing was done” about the abuse. The boy said he believed his concerns would not be taken seriously due to his parents’ jobs.
Brian Campbell worked for DCS from August 2015 to September 2018. It’s unclear what positions he held during that time, but a legal notice in May 2018 listed his title as Case Manager. There was testimony at the Campbells’ preliminary hearing that the DCS caseworker assigned to the 2016 allegation worked in the same office as Brian Campbell.
At the same hearing, CCSO Detective Jesus Davidson testified the deputy assigned to that call was ordered by a supervisor to return to patrol duty and not discuss the matter with anyone else.
At the time, Monica Campbell worked as 911 dispatch supervisor for the sheriff’s office. She was placed on administrative leave in late 2018 and remained on the county payroll until her resignation in March 2020.
In early 2017, CCSO received a report that one Campbell boy was at a neighbor’s house and mentioned problems at home. The deputy spoke with Monica Campbell before making contact with the boy, who reportedly said he didn’t want to return to the family home.
“He said he wanted to be placed in a group home,” the deputy wrote. “I told him the home would not take him because he just didn’t want to listen to the rules at home. I told him to get in my car and I would take him home.”
It is unclear whether the deputy asked the boy any questions about the issues at home.
In 2018 alone, CCSO deputies had at least six documented contacts with the family, including runaway attempts, a school fight, and a damage to property report. Another 2018 contact was a July incident in which one of the Campbells’ adoptive sons was Tasered by Brian Campbell.
That is the incident which led to the parents being charged several months later with multiple counts of abusive behavior against the four children, some of whom testified at the preliminary hearing about alleged choking and punching incidents, as well as restriction on their access to food and being Tasered at times as discipline.
The July 2018 Taser incident was captured on an indoor security system. The video, which was played for the judge last year, shows Brian Campbell punching one of his teenaged sons before pushing the boy to the ground, then sitting on the teen for several minutes before activating the Taser. Monica Campbell and the couple’s biological daughter Jade Campbell were also present at the time.
The parties will be back in Conlogue’s courtroom June 5 at which time the issue of the children’s records will be discussed further and a trial date may be set.
Cadigan is also working on behalf of the adopted son of former Sierra Vista resident David Frodsham in a $15 million lawsuit against the State of Arizona. David Frodsham and two other men are serving lengthy prison sentences in connection with their sexual abuse of the boy, who was a foster child in the home before being adopted by David and Barbara Frodsham.