What Is a Bowden Defense, and Why Tuesday Could Change Everything in the Church Trial

Everyone is talking about the videos on Judy Church's phone. Thirty minutes of Leroy Fowler on the bedroom floor. The voodoo dolls. The poisoning jokes. Social media has already decided this case.

But while the internet was busy convicting a 67-year-old retired teacher, something happened in a courtroom hearing on Day 2 that almost nobody noticed. And it might matter more than all of that combined.

Defense attorney Liam Scully stood up and told the judge what else is on that phone.

The Texts Nobody Is Talking About

From November 1 through the day police seized Judy Church's phone, there are text messages between Church and Leroy Fowler. Scully described them to the judge in open court. Loving messages. Plans to move to Florida together. Packing their house. The couple buying a truck for the trip.

And on the night of November 11, 2022, the night before Fowler was found in medical distress, Church and Fowler were texting each other all night. Scully told the judge the messages were sexually explicit. Fowler was in the back room sending intimate messages to Church. She was responding positively throughout the night.

This is the same night the prosecution's theory requires Church to have been planning or executing a murder by antifreeze.

Police seized that phone. They searched it. They had every one of those messages in their possession. And when they went to a grand jury to indict Judy Church for first-degree murder, they presented one witness. A state trooper who testified for 23 pages. No exhibits. Not a single text message was shown to the grand jurors who voted to indict.

The family's statements went in. The poisoning jokes went in. The texts showing a couple planning a future together? Left out.

What a Bowden Defense Actually Is

Most people watching true crime have never heard the term "Bowden defense." I hadn't either until I started covering trials full time. But it is one of the most important tools a defense attorney has, and it goes straight to the heart of whether we can trust the investigation that built the case.

A Bowden defense argues that police focused on one suspect too early, developed tunnel vision, and either ignored or failed to pursue evidence that pointed away from their theory. It is not a technicality. It is not a loophole. It is a direct challenge to the foundation of the prosecution's case.

Think of it this way. The prosecution builds a house. They lay a foundation, put up walls, add a roof. By the time the jury sees it, the house looks solid. A Bowden defense does not argue about whether the roof leaks or the walls are straight. It digs up the foundation and asks the jury to look at what's underneath. And if what's underneath is a one-track investigation that ignored contradictory evidence, the whole house is standing on sand.

Scully laid out the argument clearly. Police took preliminary statements from Fowler's family members, primarily all on one day, in one place. They focused exclusively on Church. They seized her phone after she came in voluntarily to give a recorded statement. She was not arrested when they took the phone. And when they went to the grand jury with all of that phone evidence in their hands, they presented none of it.

That is not a fringe argument. That is a fundamental question about investigative fairness.

Why This Matters to You, Even If You Think She Did It

I know what some of you are thinking. "Justice, I saw the videos. I saw the voodoo dolls. She's guilty." And look, you might be right. Maybe the jury watches all of this and convicts her in an hour.

But here's the thing. The question is not just whether Judy Church poisoned Leroy Fowler. The question is whether the system that charged her with murder did its job.

My father, Steven M. Askin, went to prison for refusing to betray attorney-client privilege. He was later convicted of unauthorized practice of law for helping people understand their rights from a coffee shop. He taught me something that guides every piece of coverage on this channel: the system only works if it works for everyone. The protections exist for the people you think are guilty, not just the ones you think are innocent. The moment we let the system cut corners because we already made up our minds is the moment those protections stop meaning anything.

If police had evidence on Church's phone that contradicted their theory, the grand jury should have seen it. Not because it proves she is innocent. But because that is how the system is supposed to work. You present the evidence. All of it. And you let the people in the room decide.

When investigators pick a target, build a case, and leave out what doesn't fit their narrative, that is not justice. That is confirmation bias with a badge.

The Judge Is Skeptical. That Matters Too.

I am not going to pretend Scully's argument is a slam dunk. It is not. The judge pushed back hard during the hearing. He told Scully that what he was describing sounded like an Odell motion, which is a challenge to the sufficiency of the grand jury proceedings. And the judge made clear he does not want the grand jury presentation litigated in front of the trial jury.

Scully pivoted. He told the judge this is not an Odell challenge. He is not trying to dismiss the indictment. He is presenting the texts and the investigation's tunnel vision as evidence of bias. That is a different legal question, and the judge acknowledged the distinction.

The judge agreed to review the text messages over the weekend. He will hear full arguments on Tuesday before Trooper Williams, the lead investigator who was the sole grand jury witness, takes the stand.

That ruling is the most important moment of this trial so far. More important than the voodoo dolls. More important than the 911 call. More important than three first responders describing Fowler's condition.

Because if those texts reach the jury, the prosecution's jealousy motive takes a direct hit. A couple sexting each other all night, planning a move to Florida, packing their house. That is not the picture of a woman plotting murder. And if the jury also learns that police had this evidence and the grand jury never saw it, the defense gets to stand up in closing and say: "They had the truth. They hid it from the grand jury. And they tried to hide it from you."

If the judge excludes the texts, the jury never hears any of this. The prosecution's narrative stays intact. The phone remains a weapon, not a shield.

Tuesday

The trial resumes next week. Trooper Williams is scheduled for Tuesday. Before he takes the stand, the judge will rule on whether these text messages are admissible and whether the defense can argue investigative bias to the jury.

I will be covering every minute of it.

In the meantime, watch the hearing where Scully revealed all of this. It is 13 minutes long. It is procedural. It is not dramatic in the way the videos are dramatic. But it might be the 13 minutes that decide this trial.

▶ WATCH THE HEARING Defense Reveals Texts Police Never Showed Grand Jury in Antifreeze Murder Trial

Judy Church has not been convicted of anything. She is presumed innocent. The jury will decide. But the system that brought her to trial has questions to answer too. And on Tuesday, the judge decides whether the jury gets to hear them.