Judge orders new interview with woman
 
By JIM SECKLER
Mohave Daily News
 
KINGMAN - A Mohave County Superior Court judge ruled to allow the deposition of a woman involved the case of Warren Steed Jeffs.

Jeffs' attorney, Mike Piccarreta, filed a motion for Judge Steven Conn to order Rebecca Musser to be deposed for an interview. In a separate motion, Piccarreta also asked Conn to order the deposition of Sam Brower and Dr. Dan Fischer.

Conn granted Piccarreta's motion Wednesday to formally interview Musser. The judge did not address a request for the county attorney's office to pay for Piccarreta's expenses to travel to Texas if the deposition is held in that state.

In his motion, Piccarreta argued that Musser, who had been married to Jeffs' late father, Rulon Jeffs, did not answer certain questions in her previous interview in December 2008 in Las Vegas. Musser was to have been deposed in April but according to prosecutors, Musser who lives in Idaho, had back surgery.

Musser is a witness for the prosecution against Jeffs in his Arizona charges and has testified against Jeffs at his previous trial in Utah. She also was present during the search by Texas officers at the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints compound in Texas. Piccarreta wants her to answer questions related to the April 2008 raid at the FLDS compound in Eldorado, Texas.

Mohave County Attorney Matt Smith previously argued that he does not plan to introduce any evidence from the raid at the Texas compound at Jeffs' upcoming trial in Mohave County. The prosecutor also said Texas authorities should also be present at Musser's interview.

Jeffs, 53, is charged in Mohave County with four counts of sexual conduct with a minor in two 2007 cases involving two underage girls, which allegedly took place in 2002 and 2003.

Jeffs is also charged with felony sexual assault of a child under 17 and aggravated sexual assault in Schleicher County, Texas. He was convicted in 2007 in Utah on two counts of rape as an accomplice and was sentenced in November 2007 to 10 years in a Utah prison.
 
MohaveDailyNews.com
Originally published Friday, September 4, 2009
 
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