The widow of slain Phoenix police officer Nick Erfle is taking a legal stand against the city to halt the sale of her husband’s murder weapon, citing a conflict with her rights as a crime victim, according to a report by AZ Family. Julie Erfle’s lawsuit, filed last week, seeks a court order that prevents the city from auctioning the firearm and demands its destruction instead, a call that resonates with Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell who, as she told FOX 10, will stand by Erfle "to get the law changed."
Officer Erfle, who had survived cancer and other medical complications, was fatally shot in 2007, and his widow Julie was stunned to find out, years later, that the gun used in his murder was still in existence and potentially going up for auction due to a controversial 2013 Arizona law, which mandates the sale of forfeited firearms and prohibits their destruction, she was forced by happenstance to confront a weapon that persisted as a concrete embodiment of her deepest loss. Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego expressed dissent with the law, and the city currently has no plans to sell the weapon, FOX 10 reported.
Journeying through nearly two decades of grief, Julie Erfle's discovery of the gun’s survival has ignited a debate between the Arizona Constitution's Victims' Bill of Rights and a state law preventing police departments from destroying firearms that could accrue revenue through sale. Attorney Russ Richelsoph, who is not affiliated with the case but commented on the constitutional facet, noted to AZ Family that the Arizona Victims’ Bill of Rights is meant to ensure justice and respect for victims in criminal cases.
Despite past legislative support for prohibiting firearm destruction from state figures such as Sen. John Kavanagh—who later clarified a stance possibly in favor of destroying weapons used in murders—the visceral impact of auctioning off a murder weapon has not been lost on Julie Erfle, invoking fears of the weapon causing future harm and her belief that this is about not just her husband's case but about every crime victim's right to be respected a belief that was echoed when she stated to AZ Family, "We should make a buck off of these guns. We should make a buck off of somebody’s murder. I find that immoral."
