Witnesses shun Jeffs' attorneys
 
By Suzanne Adams
Kingman Daily Miner
 
KINGMAN - Warren Jeffs' attorneys are asking to interview Texas law enforcement officers involved in the search and seizure of items from the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Texas.

Michael Picarreta and Richard Wright, Jeffs' attorneys, filed a motion to depose the officers on Monday.

Picarreta and Wright stated they have made numerous unsuccessful efforts to schedule interviews with three law enforcement officers, the sheriff of Schleicher County, one of his deputies and a Texas Ranger.

"This failure to grant personal interviews is slowing the process of analysis as to all of the issues raised in the motion to suppress," the attorneys stated, referring to an earlier motion to suppress evidence from the Texas raid.

Mohave County Attorney Matt Smith filed a response, asking the court to deny the request to depose the officers, with the option that the defense could renew the motion at a later date.

"The state would first point out that it has advised defense counsel that at the present time, we do not plan on using any of the evidence seized from Texas in either of the trials under either cause number," Smith states in his response. "So, depositions of the Texas law enforcement officers are unnecessary because they are not witnesses, material or otherwise, at the current time."

This is the second motion the defense has filed requesting the deposition of a reluctant witness. The first was filed on Oct. 14 and involved a possible victim in the other criminal case pending against Jeffs in Mohave County.

Jeffs originally had five cases pending in Mohave County; three of the cases were dismissed. The two remaining cases are still working their way through the court system.

According to court documents, a possible victim in one of the remaining cases could be a witness in the other remaining case. Picarreta and Wright want to interview her about her knowledge of events that led to the case that was brought against Jeffs in Utah.

The attorneys state that the victim/witness has refused multiple requests to interview her.

They have argued that according to Arizona case law, a possible witness in a case cannot refuse an interview, even though they may be a possible victim in a separate case involving the same defendant.

Smith has filed a response stating he does not oppose the defense's request to interview the victim/witness as long as they do not ask her about the case in which she is a possible victim.

Judge Steven Conn has granted the defense's request to interview the victim/witness. A decision is still pending on the request to interview the Texas law enforcement officers and a motion to suppress evidence from the Texas raid.
 
KingmanDailyMiner.com
Originally published Thursday, October 23, 2008
 
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