Defense seeks to block access to Jeffs evidence
 
By Ben Winslow
Deseret Morning News
 
Lawyers for Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Warren Jeffs want to block prosecutors from having access to some of their evidence as they prepare his defense.

In motions filed in St. George's 5th District Court, Jeffs' attorney Wally Bugden Jr. objects to some of the things that prosecutors believe they are entitled to under court rules of discovery.

"The State seeks information and materials that the Defendant does not intend to introduce at trial, which violates his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination," Bugden wrote.

More specifically, the defense motion objects to prosecutors asking for investigators' notes and information relating to "alibi or insanity and any other item of evidence." Bugden said his client objects because the state has "failed to show good cause and ignores the rule that 'a defendant's protection against self-incrimination prevents extensive prosecution discovery.'"

He also claims that the request for investigators' notes would violate the defense's "work product," materials that are developed in the course of preparing for a trial and traditionally considered confidential. On Monday, Bugden demanded a hearing before a judge after the Washington County Attorney's Office asked for a decision on the matter.

Jeffs, 51, was on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list until his capture outside Las Vegas last year. He is facing an April trial on charges of rape as an accomplice, a first-degree felony. He is accused of performing a child-bride marriage between a 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old cousin.

E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com
 
deseretnews.com
Originally published Tuesday, February 27, 2007
 
Back