GO! EASTERN OREGON MAGAZINE | INSIDE
Wednesday, May 4, 2022
154th Year • No. 18 • 16 Pages • $1.50
MyEagleNews.com
Smith’s day in court
Attorneys for former deputy fi re back at prosecution’s case
Bunch
Komning
Carpenter
Palmer
Olson
By STEVEN MITCHELL
Blue Mountain Eagle
A
Steven Mitchell/Blue Mountain Eagle
Tyler Smith, a former Grant County sheriff ’s deputy
accused of attempted rape and other crimes, ap-
pears in Grant County Circuit Court April 20, 2022.
Smith’s attorneys made a motion to dismiss the case
after the prosecution submitted 300 pages of evi-
dence late in the discovery process.
Circuit Court hearing on a motion to dismiss crim-
inal charges against a former Grant County sher-
iff ’s deputy accused of assault, attempted rape
and child neglect got underway on April 20, with
defense attorneys claiming that prosecutors had
been withholding crucial evidence that could clear their client
of any wrongdoing.
The trial of Tyler Smith, slated to begin in late October,
was abruptly put on hold to give defense attorneys time to sift
through hundreds of pages of discovery materials fi led just one
day earlier by the prosecution.
Those materials consisted mostly of internal documents and
reports from the Grant County Sheriff ’s Offi ce, which fi red
Smith in December 2019, three months after his arrest on the
charges in this case. There were also two recorded interviews
with Smith’s accuser, including one in which she acknowledged
placing a tracking device on Smith’s vehicle and keeping the
Grant County Sheriff ’s Offi ce informed of his whereabouts.
Andrew Coit, one of Smith’s attorneys, said the prosecution
had committed an egregious violation of the Brady Rule, which
requires exculpatory evidence — information that could acquit a
defendant in a criminal case — to be turned over to the defense
by the government.
The Brady Rule is named after the 1963 U.S. Supreme Court
case Brady v. Maryland.
In a motion to dismiss with prejudice fi led with Grant County
Circuit Court on April 29, Coit argued the prosecution had sup-
pressed evidence favorable to the defense for nearly two and half
years.
Jamie Kimberly, an assistant Oregon attorney general act-
ing as a special prosecutor in the case, said prosecutors were
unaware of the October dump of discovery materials until the
last minute.
She said she had only become aware of the recordings after
reviewing the defense’s witness list. She said as soon as she
found out about the taped interviews, she retrieved them from
Grant County Sheriff ’s Sgt. Danny Komning the day before the
trial was set to begin.
All along, however, the prosecution has argued that Smith’s
personnel fi le and items related to it are not relevant to the case
since the Oregon State Police, not the Grant County Sheriff ’s
Offi ce, investigated the criminal allegations.
How we got here
Smith was arrested on charges of attempted rape, fourth-de-
gree assault and child neglect on Sept. 9, 2019, and then fi red
by the Grant County Sheriff ’s Offi ce on Dec. 17, 2019, several
months before having an opportunity to enter a not guilty plea
on April 30, 2020.
Smith maintains that the criminal charges against him were
part of a plan by former Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer,
Undersheriff Zach Mobley, Mobley’s wife, Abigail, and Komn-
ing, her older brother, to have him removed from the Sheriff ’s
Offi ce and get him arrested.
That plan, Smith asserts, was in retaliation for allegations
Smith made to the Oregon Department of Justice on July 31,
2019, that Abigail Mobley had used illegal drugs and had a sex-
ual relationship with an inmate incarcerated for drug crimes
while she was a jail deputy with the Grant County Sheriff ’s
Offi ce.
Smith also argues that his accuser was a close friend of the
Mobleys and Komning.
See Smith, Page A18
Greenhouse posts $122K loss
City may turn over facility
to private managers
By JUSTIN DAVIS
Blue Mountain Eagle
JOHN DAY — After losing
$122,000, the city-owned green-
house in John Day could soon be
under new management.
City Manager Nick Green said
he plans to propose that a private
Justin Davis/Blue Mountain Eagle
corporation run the greenhouse at
the Tuesday, May 10, City Coun- The city-owned greenhouse in John Day on April 20, 2022.
cil meeting. Green declined to dis-
close the name of the company at $155,000 to operate in fiscal year the city had for the greenhouse on
this point but said that information 2020-21 and produced $33,000 in hold, contributing to the $122,000
will be made public at the meeting. revenue. Green said the coronavi- deficit for the fiscal year.
The greenhouse cost the city rus pandemic put a lot of the plans
There are currently no plans
to recover the funds lost on the
greenhouse to date, but Green said
the greenhouse played an integral
part in securing some of the grant
funding for the city’s planned
$17.5 million wastewater treat-
ment plant.
“It was a proof of concept to
show that we could grow hydro-
ponic crops in the valley,” Green
said. “And (as a) result of hav-
ing that and having economic val-
ue-added traded-sector industry
that can benefit from the reclaimed
water, we gained about $6 million
in grants for the water treatment
plant.”
When asked if the greenhouse
is a failure, Green said he doesn’t
see it that way at all.
“Next month we’ll be announc-
ing the $3 million award for the
reclaimed water system, which
is going to give us all the pur-
ple pipe and the storage capa-
bility to provide water to the
greenhouse, golf course, Mal-
heur Lumber and our parks,” he
said. “I’m not counting that with
the $6 million we’ve already got-
ten. This is $3 million on top of
that.”
Green said the firm taking over
the greenhouse will benefit from
the purple pipe and water treat-
ment facilities as well as provide
private sector jobs and sell pro-
duce locally.
See Greenhouse, Page A7
Wynonna to headline Grant County Fair
By STEVEN MITCHELL
Blue Mountain Eagle
JOHN DAY — Award-winning
country music singer Wynonna
Judd will headline this year’s Grant
County Fair Aug. 12.
Kicking off the concert will
be Eddie Gentry of Montgomery
Gentry.
Mindy Winegar, the Grant
County Fairgrounds manager, said
the gates open at 6 p.m.
Winegar said advance tickets,
which cover the cost of entry to
both the fair and concert, are on
sale now at grantcountyoregon.net.
The early bird price for adults
is $45 or $50 the day of the show,
while kids 12 and under can get
into the fair and concert for $15.
Dry camping spots are available for
$10 at the Boondock Campground
across the street from the outdoor
Contributed Photo
Wynonna Judd, award-winning female
country singer, will headline the Grant
County Fair’s Stars, Stripes and Sum-
mer Nights concert at the fairgrounds
outdoor arena Aug. 12.
arena on Northwest Third Street in
John Day.
“It’s a great deal,” Winegar said,
“and good entertainment.”
This year’s fair will run Fri-
day-Sunday, Aug. 12-14.
Winegar said that besides the
bouncy house, the mechanical bull
and rock-climbing wall, the fair
has added new attractions. One that
she said she is excited about is the
trampoline show on Friday, Satur-
day and Sunday.
The acrobatic trampoline shows
are popular at NBA and NFL events
and major festivals, Winegar said
the athletes would have 14-foot
wall they jump over and will be at
the center of the fairgrounds.
“It will be so awesome,” she
said.
Longtime fairgrounds employee
Dusty Williams booked the per-
formers, known as Flippen Out Pro-
ductions, Winegar said.
Winegar said the fairgrounds
would have security officers on Fri-
day and Saturday for crowd control
and to prevent underage drinking.
Winegar said the security com-
pany has previously worked with
the Grant County Sheriff’s Office.
She said some of the deputies have
worked with the company.
Winegar said the security offi-
cers would check bags on Fri-
day and Saturday during the peak
events, including the concert and
Hamsher Fighting Bulls show, to
ensure no outside alcohol or weap-
ons are brought into the event.
Wynonna Judd
With her mother, Naomi, Wynonna
Judd formed the Judds in the 1980s
and became one of the best-selling
country artists of all time.
Naomi Judd died Saturday,
April 30, less than a month after
the duo’s last performance and
a day before the group’s induc-
tion into the Country Music Hall of
Fame.
Winegar said everyone at the
fairgrounds sends their condo-
lences to the Judd family.