Matt Smith says "Yes" & "No"

There is a new posting at the Mohave county site.

In it Matt Smith says the defense is right to ask for expense records of Hoole & King with regard to prosecution witnesses, one of whom is Elissa Wall, another being Jane Blackmore. Hoole & King for their part are pleading for more time, hinting that the task is difficult, which in turn suggests there were a lot of payments to a lot of witnesses for a lot of money or that Hoole & King regards the payments as impeaching their testimony or that it would lead to other questions, which Piccarreta is asking and which Matt Smith is resisting, at least for now.

Actually any one or all of the above could apply or any combination. I'll update later with a link. This was blogged from my phone.

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Hoole and King about to crack open like an egg?

Roger Hoole (about to be Huevos?)

To paraphrase a bit, to make an omelet, you gotta scramble some Hoole (& King).

This week there have been some interesting filings in Mohave County. First Warren Jeffs' Attorneys filed a motion to have Hoole and King reveal financial dealings with the prosecutions witnesses. At this point, I have to again emphasize that I find prosecutor Matt Smith to be an honorable man. Smith assisted (as is his duty) the defense in requesting information on the 12th last month, and again in a second request to Hoole & King on the 28th (page 3 of the PDF) that Hoole & King disclose money paid to a witness (Jane Blackmore) that are now assumed by all, to have lied under oath. At any rate, no one (Judge Conn/Matt Smith) is protesting the language of Michael Piccarreta's motions, that Jane did lie under oath. Jane it would seem has now come clean and is scrambling to be able to come into the United States from Canada, and not be arrested and thrown in the clink, for perjury.

Hoole & King for their part, were to have replied by a deadline of Tuesday last week, and guess what? They didn't. Page four of the PDF of the motion declares that the defense and the prosecution (Matt Smith) have discharged their good faith efforts, and it's now time for the court to step in. The evidence that this is a cooperative effort of both defense and prosecution, not just in form, but in spirit, is that Judge Conn immediately takes up the motion, and grants it, and sets a date next month (not in September, the agreed upon date for resolving motions). Judge Conn states that; "(I)t seems clear that (the defense) want(s) to be heard on this motion before September 3, 2010."

On the list of those for whom expenses be discloses are Jane Blackmore, Rebecca Musser, Richard Holm, Carolyn Jessop and "any other State Witness." In some cases I imagine Hoole & King has no choice. In others, if they don't present the expenses, it may simply be that those witnesses may not appear for the prosecution.

Clearly Jane Blackmore has said something that leads Piccarreta to believe that the monies paid out to various witnesses or potential witnesses against Warren Jeffs by Hoole & King have gone beyond merely the reimbursement of expenses and have gone into the area of funneling money to those witnesses. Either that, or this is a court sponsored fishing trip. In the latter case it is the lying by witnesses and the reticence (to be polite) of Hoole & King to provide information the defense is entitled to have, that has led to the issuance of that fishing license.

A good defenses is going to take every advantage of every opportunity to peak into the sock drawer of the prosecution and it's friends. If they find something on a state sanctioned trip that they weren't looking for, that helps, this is America. The defense is always provided more latitude and given more in the way of rights than the prosecution.

Bottom line, if there is something to find inside Hoole & King and it's various clients associations with each other, and with Hoole & King, the defenses is now going to find it, or the case is going to collapse. The ruling on the "Unlawful" nature of the raid in Texas was one strut kicked out from under the prosecution's chair in February, and Matt Smith making the mistake of "looking" at YFZ evidence has severely handicapped him. Losing a list of witnesses because they won't appear or because they have perjured themselves is another leg out from under the stool.

After this expedition by the defense, it will clearly be a balancing act for Matt. The question will be, does he want to keep it up after Judge Conn told him about 4 months ago, that he's probably going to sentence Jeffs to "Time Served," even if he does get his conviction?

Will Matt be interested in warehousing Warren Jeffs for Texas in an Arizona Jail if the conviction in Utah falls apart (Elissa Wall's seeming perjury). It seems more and more clear that the foot dragging is designed to keep Warren behind bars, until the evidence already thrown out in Arizona as "Unlawfully collected" is used in Texas to convict him when he goes on trial there.

Another thing. Will Warren be out on bail by the time he's tried in Texas?

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Earthquake in Warren's Case

FLDS Leader Warren Jeffs

The Utah Attorney General's office is stepping out of the way, and letting Warren have his way:

"The (Utah) Attorney General’s Office told the Utah Supreme Court that it would not oppose a defense request for a stay of Jeffs’ appeal to allow for an investigation and an evidentiary hearing on the new allegations.

Assistant Attorney General Laura Dupaix wrote in the notice that Utah prosecutors were not aware of this potential evidence at the time of trial and had only learned about it two days ago. She wrote that the Attorney General’s Office is "ethically bound to provide notice of this potential newly-discovered evidence both to the Court and to Jeffs’ Utah Counsel.' "

This is major. It may lead to the conviction being laid aside and no new trial. If Elissa forged evidence, she is no longer a credible witness against anyone. Warren's conviction depends entirely on a credible Elissa Wall. Read more here.

The reason you don't appeal when you're in the process of appeal is simple. You expect the conviction to be reversed. Rather than play the obstructionist, the Utah AG's office is rolling out the red carpet for Warren's defense. That means not only do they believe what was heard from Jane Blackmore, but they don't think that when the facts are revealed, they could sell any other interpretation of them.

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What did Jane Blackmore Say?

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

I've been sitting on this for a week, but, it's out:

A deputy (Washington County Utah) attorney confirmed to KSL they received information that Jane Blackmore, a midwife to Elissa Wall during a miscarriage and witness in the trial, lied during her testimony.

They are also looking into whether medical records she provided are accurate.

Jeffs was convicted of being an accomplice to the rape of Wall, for forcing her to marry her 19-year-old cousin when she was 14.

Attorneys for Jeffs had no comment.

At this point, no appeals dealing with this specific investigation have been filed."

There would be no hurry as this is not a "get out of jail free card." Warren is in jail in Arizona, and that has to be resolved, then there is the matter in Texas.

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