| Moving to suppress Jeffs' attorneys ask that evidence be disallowed | |||||
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By Patrice St. Germain patrices@thespectrum.com | |||||
ST. GEORGE - Attorneys in the Warren Jeffs case have until June 25 to submit memorandums before a judge decides if evidence from the traffic stop that brought the fugitive polygamist church leader into custody should be suppressed. Jeffs was back in 5th District Court on Wednesday in St. George for a motion hearing to suppress evidence collected from the Aug. 28, 2006, stop outside Las Vegas. The defense also is asking that contents of an interview Jeffs gave to FBI agents after the traffic stop be suppressed in his trial. He has been charged with two counts of rape as an accomplice. He has been accused of arranging the marriage between a 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old cousin. Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Eddie Dutchover was the only witness called Wednesday morning in the hearing before Judge James Shumate. Dutchover gave his account of that night's events and testified that the when he pulled over the Cadillac Escalade in which the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was a passenger, Jeffs was so anxious that the trooper himself became nervous. At the end of the hearing, Shumate said that because the traffic stop was on Interstate 15, he wanted prosecution and defense attorneys to submit their memorandums on Nevada and federal law by June 25. Because the traffic stop involved a warrantless search, the burden falls to the state to prove its case. Washington County Deputy Attorney Ryan Shaum questioned Dutchover, a trooper for eight years, about his reason for pulling over the Escalade at about 9 p.m. that night near mile marker 59. Dutchover said he pulled the vehicle over because he could not see a license plate. After stopping the vehicle, Dutchover said he could see the temporary plate, but part of the plate was still obscured. From that point, Dutchover said the temporary plate led to suspicion. The vehicle was registered in Colorado to an owner from Des Moines, Iowa, with a name other than Jeffs. But the vehicle was being driven by Isaac Jeffs, who had a Utah license. "I also made a mental note of the radar detector, the GPS unit and the seating of the passengers, which was most unusual," Dutchover said in his testimony. Dutchover said he was wary when he approached the vehicle because the windows were heavily tinted. Because the computer-aided dispatch system was not functioning properly, Dutchover could not run Jeffs' driver's license or the vehicle identification number to see if there were any problems. Instead, Dutchover asked Isaac Jeffs to step from the vehicle and answer a few more questions. Dutchover said he then asked for permission to search the vehicle. Before searching the Escalade, Dutchover spoke to Warren Jeffs, who was sitting on the right side of the vehicle in the second seat. Dutchover said Jeffs looked straight ahead and was eating a salad rapidly when Dutchover questioned him. "His (Warren Jeffs) carotid artery was pulsating. He was shaking and nervous. I told him (Jeffs) he was making me nervous," Dutchover said. Several other troopers arrived, and officers searched the Cadillac. In the lining of one suitcase, several envelopes containing hundred-dollar bills were found. In all, officers discovered numerous cell phones, laptop computers and more than $50,000 in cash. Dutchover said another trooper questioned if the two passengers - Warren and Naomi Jeffs - were asked for identification and said he recognized the name Jeffs from a traffic stop the month before. Jeffs, who had been placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list in May 2006, revealed his identity to an FBI special agent who responded to the scene more than an hour after the vehicle was initially pulled over. Jeffs' attorney Richard Wright, of Las Vegas, questioned Dutchover as to why, once the vehicle was found to have a valid temporary plate and registration, that the people in the Cadillac were not allowed to leave. Dutchover responded that "different things" factored into that decision. "It smelled criminal to you?" Wright asked. Dutchover responded that the scene was more suspicious than criminal. Wright asked if Isaac Jeffs had been free to go after giving the trooper all of the information he had requested. Dutchover said Isaac Jeffs had given him all of the information but was not free to go. Later, Dutchover said Jeffs could have left but that the vehicle would not have been released. Shumate stated after Dutchover's testimony that the stop was legitimate, and because the computer system was down, the trooper was not able to check the information. Shumate said he did not know Nevada law, but he said under Utah law, the vehicle and occupants should have been free to go after about 10 or 15 minutes. Jeffs was impassive during the hearing Wednesday but smiled as his family members entered the courtroom. | |||||
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TheSpectrum.com Originally published June 14, 2007 | |||||
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