Jeffs' attorneys seek to question Texas Rangers
 
By FELICIA FONSECA
The Associated Press
Mohave Daily News
 
FLAGSTAFF - Attorneys for polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs are asking a judge to order Texas Rangers to speak to them about the authorities' raid on the sect's ranch in Eldorado, Texas, earlier this year.

But prosecutors say they have no plans to use evidence seized from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' Yearning for Zion ranch in a pending case against Jeffs in Arizona and want the judge to deny the motion filed this week.

Mohave County Superior Court Judge Steven Conn said the parties can expect the motion to be granted if he finds the testimony of the Texas Rangers is material to the case.

Jeffs is awaiting trial in Arizona on four counts of being an accomplice to sexual conduct with a minor. Those charges stem from the marriages of two teenage girls and their adult male relatives.

Michael Piccarreta, an attorney for Jeffs, said Thursday that he has made repeated attempts by telephone and e-mail to interview the law enforcement officials but without success. He had filed a motion last month to suppress the evidence seized at the Texas ranch.

The Texas attorney general's office and Mohave County Attorney Matt Smith did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

In court documents, Smith urged Conn to deny the motion. But he said he wouldn't oppose a renewal of the motion if prosecutors find some evidence from Texas that might be relevant in the case.

"Since the state is not planning on using any of the Texas evidence at either of the currently pending trials, this issue is not 'ripe' for adjudication at this time, and so depositions of the Texas law enforcement officers are unnecessary because they are not witnesses, material or otherwise at the current time," Smith said.

Piccarreta has questioned whether Arizona law enforcement officials have been "tainted" by exposure to evidence he says was illegally seized in the Texas raid.
 
MohaveDailyNews.com
Originally published Friday, October 24, 2008
 
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