Justice for Ryan Till and Garrett Bledsoe

We, the families and friends of Ryan Till and Garrett Bledsoe, request that Mr. Andrew Thomas, the Maricopa County Attorney, thoroughly review case #CA2007027723 and present to a Grand Jury for prosecution action.

Ryan Till and Garrett Bledsoe attended a New Years Eve party on 12/31/06 at a residence in Tempe. This party was advertised on MySpace and attended by approximately 70 people.

While at the residence, Ryan Till (age 22) and Garrett Bledsoe (age 21) were brutally attacked and beaten by residents at the home of the party. While Ryan Till was being attacked (struck with a bottle) by one resident and was attempting to hold off his attacker, a second resident took no action to stop the attack. A third resident entered the home, and bludgeoned both Ryan Till and Garrett Bledsoe in the back of the head with an unknown object. It is assumed that this unknown object is a 1-1/2 to 2 round metal pipe. The third resident then ran out of the home, with the unknown object, yelling I will not go to jail for this and left the residence with the presumed weapon. After this attack, the first attacker continued to pummel Ryan with punches to the head. The resident who did not stop the attack gathered up most remaining guests and another resident and had them leave the residence -- leaving Ryan and Garrett laying on the ground unconscious, bleeding and having convulsions without attempting to help them.

Ryan Till died later that day from severe head trauma; his condition included injuries such as a deep several inch long laceration, a second laceration, multiple skull fractures (some with significant depression), and brain hemorrhage among others. His condition was deemed hopeless within a short time after arriving at the hospital. Visually, his head was extremely swollen even though he was missing a large portion of his skull due to surgery.

Garrett Bledsoe has been fighting his way back to a normal life. He is still recovering from Traumatic Brain Injury, which left him in a coma for several weeks, unable to talk for several months, and he is still unable to walk and does not have full function of his right side. He receives painful physical therapy three times a week and suffers from memory loss, as well as other debilitating injuries. He requires round the clock care. Garrett lost his best friend in this attack and we all suffer daily from Ryans death.

Ryan and Garrett were caring and compassionate young men with very bright futures. They were involved with their church, sports, clubs, college, jobs, etc. They were very close with their families and much loved by long time friends. They still lived at home because they preferred to be with their families. They were above average college students with excellent job histories. It is unbearable that they will never get to accomplish what they worked so hard for, never get to have a family, etc. We don't want another young person or his/her families or friends to go through a similar experience. It is incomprehensible that people capable of inflicting this type of force on another would be allowed to walk free.

We, the undersigned of this petition, are of the opinion that the case file, the crime scene photos, and all other pertinent files associated with Tempe Police office report number 07000258 were not thoroughly reviewed and thus, were deemed not prosecutable. We are of the opinion that our case is not high profile and therefore, not deemed worthy of the time of the Maricopa County Attorneys Office. Mr. Thomas made a campaign promise to the residents of Maricopy County that no criminal would go unpunished. It appears through current television advertising that the County Attorneys office seems to be more focused on keeping students from skipping school than prosecuting those criminals that continue to walk around our communities unprosecuted and dangerous. We are requesting that this case, CA2007027723, be thoroughly reviewed by Mr. Thomas and that the case is presented to a Grand Jury for prosecution.