Jeffs' lawyers want judge to toss evidence seized during stop
 
By Nancy Perkins
Deseret Morning News
 
ST. GEORGE — Attorneys for polygamist leader Warren Jeffs want a 5th District judge to throw out evidence seized during an extended traffic stop in Nevada that resulted in Jeffs' arrest last year.

During a hearing Wednesday, Judge James L. Shumate ordered attorneys from both sides of the issue to provide legal briefs to the court by June 25. The judge specifically asked the lawyers to research Nevada law and federal laws that pertain to the legality of extending a traffic stop if an officer is unable to verify documents through the law enforcement computer database system.

"I don't have any case law before me when the computer is down," Shumate said. "I want to know what Nevada law and federal law says about it (extending a traffic stop) under these rather peculiar circumstances."

Jeffs is charged with two counts of first-degree felony rape as an accomplice. He is accused of performing a marriage between a 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old cousin. In a ruling last month, Shumate ruled Jeffs competent to stand trial. Jury selection is scheduled to begin Sept. 7, with a two-week trial slated for Sept. 10-21 in St. George.

Jeffs appeared healthy and alert during Wednesday's court proceedings. More than a dozen followers of the 51-year-old man who serves as the president of the Fundamentalist LDS Church attended the hearing and immediately stood when Jeffs entered the room. He turned and smiled at the entourage, nodding his head at several people and taking the time to look at each person individually.

Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Eddie Dutchover testified that he stopped a 2007 Cadillac Escalade going north on Interstate 15 about 9 p.m. on Aug. 28, 2006, because a corner of the temporary license tag wasn't clearly visible.

After stopping the car, the trooper asked the driver, Isaac Jeffs, for his driver's license and car registration. Dutchover testified that he was unable to verify the accuracy of the documents, because the state's law enforcement computer system was down.

After questioning the driver and then trying to talk to the car's two passengers, who Dutchover said later turned out to be Warren Jeffs and one of his wives, Naomi Jeffs, the trooper said he was suspicious of the three people before him.

"Isaac Jeffs was acting really suspicious. He wouldn't make eye contact with me and kept folding and unfolding his arms," Dutchover testified. "When I first made contact with Warren Jeffs, he appeared extremely nervous — so much so that I told him he was making me nervous."

Discrepancies in the men's stories, such as Isaac Jeffs saying the trio were going back to Hildale, Utah, after spending time in San Francisco and Las Vegas and then Warren Jeffs saying the group was heading back to Denver, further raised the trooper's suspicions, he said.

Nearly a half hour after the initial stop, Dutchover obtained written permission from Isaac Jeffs to search the car and called for more troopers. Once additional troopers arrived, Dutchover said a search of the vehicle revealed a radar detector, global mapping system device, cell phones, wigs, clothing, luggage and a lot of envelopes addressed to "WSJ" or the "president." A large amount of cash also was discovered inside the lining of a suitcase.

"Something was definitely wrong," the trooper testified. "I thought maybe it was drugs, but I didn't know what it was."

Dutchover testified he did not discover any "illegal contraband" inside the vehicle.

Another trooper recognized the name "Jeffs" and began to wonder if one of the male passengers was Warren Jeffs, who was on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list. That's when FBI agents in Las Vegas were asked to come to the scene to verify Warren Jeffs' identity, Dutchover said.

During the hearing Wednesday, both the defense and prosecution attorneys asked questions for nearly three hours about the trooper's actions following the initial traffic stop, which prompted the judge to tell the attorneys that he was "smarter than I look" and that he understood the facts before him.

Under Utah law, Shumate said, the traffic stop "would have been over within 10 or 15 minutes, and these people would have been free to leave. But I don't know what happens if the computers go down."

The judge also told the attorneys not to take any comfort in his final decision, no matter which way it went, since he doubted there was anything in the vehicle that would be relevant to the case before him.

E-mail: nperkins@desnews.com
 
deseretnews.com
Originally published Thursday, June 14, 2007
 
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