Jailhouse interview with man accused of killing brother in Arcadia goes awry
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — For the first time, Arizona’s Family briefly heard from the man accused of shooting and killing his brother, a high-profile Valley attorney named James “Artie” Eaves.
Phoenix Police say Christopher Eaves, 49, drove to his brother’s Arcadia home on the morning of March 21 and shot the 51-year-old man multiple times. He left the scene but returned a short time later with his parents, and that’s when he was arrested.
He’s now facing charges including first-degree murder and first-degree burglary.
Tuesday, less than two weeks after the deadly shooting, Christopher Eaves agreed to a jailhouse interview with True Crime Arizona correspondent Briana Whitney. The True Crime Arizona team was set up inside a chapel in the 4th Avenue Jail in downtown Phoenix for the interview, but nothing went as planned.
MCSO deputies brought him in, and here’s what happened next:
Deputy: Bring him over here first, sergeant.
Christopher Eaves: No walk-in footage
Deputy: I need you to initial this, Christopher. Just saying that Fox 10 and AZFamily are here. Just put your initials by each one for me. Right here. That’s the one you signed earlier.
Christopher Eaves: Are any of you working for a law enforcement agency or working on behalf of a law enforcement organization?
Briana: No.
Christopher Eaves: You are?
Photographer: No.
Christopher Eaves: No walk-in footage, please. I need to be afforded a suit of clothes for any interviews I was going to be (inaudible). I don’t wanna take interviews in these clothes, so no footage.
Deputies: Well, then we can’t do an interview.
Christopher Eaves: Then I need to speak to the ACLU. I’ve been trying to reach my attorney, still haven’t afforded access to counsel. And I have not been afforded a lawyer. Afforded me a public attorney that I denied as counsel, and I have not been read my rights or Mirandized (inaudible). USSE-6345 and USSE-61342 are published. And in Black’s Law dictionary, if you can look those up, you’ll have a number of answers about this case.
Christopher Eaves: Thank you. OK, thank you.
Deputies then escorted him out of the room.
The motive for the alleged crime still remains unclear, but the brothers’ parents reportedly told investigators that Christopher lived with them and has struggled with mental illness.
Court documents released a few days after his arrest say surveillance cameras captured everything, including Christopher arriving in a BMW and ramming the garage door. The suspect is then seen getting out holding a handgun.
Artie Eaves is seen arriving a short time later and looking at the BMW. He then walked to his front door just before he was shot. After the shooting, a witness saw Christopher Eaves drive off in the BMW. Artie Eaves was found face down dead on his driveway.
After Christopher’s arrest, investigators said they recovered clothing that matched what the shooter was wearing in the surveillance video. Court documents state that guns were also recovered from inside the BMW and Christopher’s bedroom.
He’s being held on a $1.5 million cash-only bond.
See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.
Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.
Copyright 2025 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.
