NEWS
Blue Mountain Eagle
A18
Smith
Continued from Page A1
After a 21-month inves-
tigation found that Abigail
Mobley committed eight vio-
lations of the department’s
code of conduct, ranging
from abuse of her position to
conduct unbecoming an offi -
cer and neglect of duty, she
resigned from the Sheriff ’s
Offi ce on Dec. 26, 2021, fol-
lowing a 30-day suspension.
Abigail Mobley, who was
on paid leave throughout the
investigation, was not found
to have used illegal drugs.
Confl icting testimony
One of the recorded inter-
views with Smith’s accuser
was conducted by Komning
on June 20, 2019. The date
of the interview, according to
Smith’s other defense attor-
ney, Andrea Coit (wife of
“YET THE STATE CONTINUES TO BOTH HIDE EVIDENCE IT IS REQUIRED
TO DISCLOSE AND TO INTERFERE WITH THE DEFENDANT’S RIGHT TO A
FAIR TRIAL, EVIDENCED AGAIN BY ITS OPPOSITION TO THIS REQUEST
FOR A CONTINUANCE OF THE TRIAL DATE.”
Andrea Coit, one of Tyler Smith’s attorneys
Andrew), is important.
In Smith’s federal law-
suit for wrongful termination
and civil rights violations, he
states that Palmer called him
into his offi ce that day and
berated him, saying he knew
that Smith planned to make
allegations about Abigail
Mobley in an upcoming inter-
view with the Department of
Justice, which was investigat-
ing her.
Komning testifi ed that
Zach Mobley had called him
in on his day off to come
into the Sheriff ’s Offi ce and
Palmer told him to inter-
view Smith’s accuser and the
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accuser’s coworker.
According to Komn-
ing, Palmer told him Smith
had been seen “spying”
on the Mobleys. Addition-
ally, Komning testifi ed that
Palmer was concerned about
the safety of Smith’s accuser
and Smith’s children.
In a court hearing last
week, Palmer testifi ed that
he did not recall having a
conversation with Komning
about investigating Smith
regarding safety concerns
or the alleged spying on the
Mobleys.
Upon being shown the
report from Komning’s inter-
view of Smith’s accuser and
the coworker, Palmer said
he told Komning to take the
investigation to an outside
agency.
Zach Mobley testifi ed
that, other than receiving a
phone call that Smith had left
his kids at home unattended
and turning the report over to
the John Day Police Depart-
ment, he had no recollection
of being involved with initi-
ating any kind of formal or
informal investigation into
Smith.
Komning said he asked
the Wheeler County sheriff
to conduct an internal aff airs
investigation of Smith, and the
sheriff recorded another inter-
view with Smith’s accuser.
In that interview, accord-
ing to the recording that was
played in court on April 20,
Smith’s accuser acknowl-
edges placing a tracker on
Smith’s vehicle and keep-
ing the Grant County Sher-
iff ’s Offi ce updated on Smith’s
whereabouts.
Komning testifi ed that
he was not aware of Smith’s
scheduled interview with the
DOJ to talk about alleged mis-
conduct by his sister at the time
he conducted his interview
with Smith’s accuser. Accord-
ing to Komning, he was acting
on Palmer’s concerns about
the safety of Smith’s accuser
and the children.
In court, the defense
pointed to what it called con-
tradictions between Koming’s
statements and Palmer’s April
27 testimony. Under cross-ex-
amination, the former sheriff
said he did not remember say-
ing those things to Komning.
“I don’t recall what the
conversation was with Danny
Komning,” Palmer said. “If
that’s what he testifi ed, then
that’s his testimony. I don’t
recall it.”
Additionally,
Komning
testifi ed that Palmer was con-
cerned that Smith had been
spying on the Mobleys.
In the interview, Komning
told Smith’s accuser that Smith
had changed and that he was
concerned about the safety of
those around him. The accuser
asked Komning to go off the
record. In Komning’s report,
the accuser makes contradic-
tory statements, fi rst claim-
ing Smith had been “abusive”
with the children, then saying
he is good with the kids but
that he was neglecting them.
The defense asked Komn-
ing if he reported the abuse
to the Department of Human
Services given that, as a
patrol deputy and a manda-
tory reporter, he was required
by law to report such an
allegation.
Komning said what the
accuser told him did not meet
the threshold of abuse. More-
over, he said he thought sub-
mitting the report to Palmer
was enough to meet the man-
datory reporter requirement.
Asked why he did not turn
over the recording to prosecu-
tors, Komning said that he did
not think the recording was
relevant to Smith’s criminal
case.
After the fi rst day of the
hearing on April 20, the
defense amended its motion
to dismiss based on tes-
timony by Jim Carpen-
Grant
Soil
& Water
ater
Conse
Conservation District
2022 Annual Meeting 6 PM
Wednesday, May 18th, 2022
6 PM
Grant County Fairgrounds
Pavilion, John Day, OR
Grant SWCD is pleased to present
Bayer Corporation representatives Kent Pittard,
Justin Hossfeld and Harry Quicke to discuss the
effectiveness and economic benefits of using
Rejuvra to control invasive annual grasses.
Grant Weed Control has been working with
Bayer Corporation and Oregon State
University Extension Service for several years
and witnessed the impacts on annual grasses
stands within Grant County.
All attendees are welcome to join the
District and the Bayer Representatives the
following morning (May, 19th) for a tour of
treatments areas within Grant County.
A sign up sheet will be available during the
meeting for interested parties.
Palmer and the
prosecutor
ter, Grant County’s district
attorney.
Carpenter testifi ed that
Palmer had emailed him ask-
ing for assistance in fi nding a
legal avenue to arrest Haley
Olson, Smith’s girlfriend,
who claimed on social media
that she had documents that
proved Smith was inno-
cent of the charges brought
against him.
Carpenter
said
he
directed Palmer to work
with Gretchen Ladd-Dobler,
Wheeler County’s district
attorney, one of the spe-
cial prosecutors, along with
Kimberly, who was handling
Smith’s case.
The defense attorneys
argue that Carpenter’s tes-
timony shows Palmer was
looking for a way to sup-
press documents that could
be used to exonerate Smith.
They have asked the state to
produce additional emails
in a thread between Palmer,
Carpenter and Ladd-Dobler
that was among the discov-
ery materials submitted in
October.
In Kimberly’s cross-ex-
amination of Carpenter, she
asked if Palmer’s inquiry
went any further than the
email thread.
Ladd-Dobler’s
partici-
pation in the case has come
under scrutiny given that she
is the wife of Grant County
Sheriff ’s
Deputy
Dave
Dobler. The defense asked
Carpenter — who asked her
to take on the Smith case —
if he saw a potential confl ict
of interest because of that
relationship.
Ladd-Dobler told the
newspaper in September of
2020 that Smith’s criminal
case was investigated by the
Oregon State Police and not
the Grant County Sheriff ’s
Offi ce. She went on to say
that district attorneys, not
victims, decide if criminal
cases move forward.
The failure to turn over
the recordings and related
documents until just before
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the start of trial, according
to Smith’s defense attorneys,
points to a consistent pattern
on the part of the prosecutors
of improperly withholding
evidence that could exoner-
ate the defendant.
The prosecutors, how-
ever, reject that line of rea-
soning entirely, arguing
that none of those materi-
als are relevant to the crim-
inal charges against Smith.
Therefore, they insist, the
charges against him should
not be thrown out.
‘Hide the ball’
Smith’s attorneys claim
the evidence suppression has
been a constant for two and a
half years.
“This case,” Andrew Coit
said during a court hearing
on April 27, “has been for the
DA’s Offi ce and law enforce-
ment about hide the ball.”
The controversy, which
could change the course of
Smith’s case by leading to
another continuance or even
a dismissal, began on the
fi rst day of the trial in late
October.
After the issue of the
last-minute discovery dump
was raised, Circuit Court
Judge Dan Bunch called an
on-the-record hearing in his
chambers with the attorneys
for both sides, court tran-
scripts show.
During that conference,
Bunch told Kimberly that
it sounded to him as though
Smith had patrol deputies
within the Sheriff ’s Offi ce
working against him.
“They have not made
your job easy,” Bunch told
the prosecutor. “(I) am con-
cerned there are offi cers not
shooting straight with you.
(I) will tell you, as far as
a conviction you have an
uphill battle.”
For her part, Kimberly
told the judge she appreci-
ated his concerns but that the
prosecution was confi dent in
its case.
The trial is slated to get
underway on May 16, but
Smith’s attorneys fi led a
motion on Friday, April 29,
for a postponement to allow
time for more testimony on
their motion to dismiss.
The state objects to the
postponement.
“The facts tend to suggest
that Grant County has played
a signifi cant role in both the
development of the criminal
allegations and the pursuit
of the indictments,” Smith’s
attorneys argue.
“Yet the state contin-
ues to both hide evidence it
is required to disclose and
to interfere with the Defen-
dant’s right to a fair trial,
evidenced again by its oppo-
sition to this request for
a continuance of the trial
date.”
An oral argument on
the postponement motion
is scheduled for 9 a.m. on
Monday, May 9, at the Grant
County Courthouse.
Then
NOW
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PUBLISHES MAY 25
DAYVILLE,
LONG CREEK,
MONUMENT AND
PRAIRIE CITY
GRANT COUNTY
Jennifer Smith
PUBLISHES JUNE 1
GRANT COUNTY
Name of graduate: ______________________
School: _______________________________
Message: _____________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
Please Join us on May 18th to learn more about
this exciting opportunity to control invasive
annual grasses on Grant County’s rangeland!
High School Name
_____________________________________
Congratulations Jen!
We are so proud of you!
Love, Mom & Dad
Call Kim or Alix 541-575-0710 or
email kkell@bluemountaineagle.com
or ahand@bluemountaineagle.com
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