A16 NEWS Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, June 8, 2022 Both sides rest in motion to dismiss Ex-Grant County deputy seeks to have criminal charges thrown out By STEVEN MITCHELL Blue Mountain Eagle CANYON CITY — Attorneys for both sides made their closing argu- ments Monday, June 6, in a Circuit Court hearing to dismiss criminal charges against a former Grant County sheriff ’s deputy accused of assault, attempted rape and child neglect. Attorneys for Tyler Smith argued the prosecutors have engaged in prose- cutorial misconduct and selective pros- ecution since the beginning and con- tinue to withhold evidence they claim would clear the former deputy of any wrongdoing. Andrew Coit, one of Smith’s attor- neys, said Monday the prosecution had committed an egregious violation of the Brady Rule, which requires excul- patory evidence — information that could acquit a defendant in a criminal case — to be turned over to the defense by the government. The evidence in question, which prosecutors fi led on the eve of Smith’s trial in late October, included docu- ments and internal reports from the Grant County Sheriff ’s Offi ce, which fi red Smith in December 2019, three months after his arrest and charges in this case. Additionally, there were two recorded interviews with Smith’s accuser, including one in which she acknowledged placing a tracking device on Smith’s vehicle and keep- ing the Grant County Sheriff ’s Offi ce informed of his whereabouts. Jamie Kimberly, an assistant Ore- gon attorney general acting as a special prosecutor in the case, argued Mon- day that prosecutors were unaware of the October dump of discovery mate- Steven Mitchell/Blue Mountain Eagle, File Tyler Smith, a former Grant County sheriff ’s deputy accused of attempted rape and other crimes, appears in Grant County Circuit Court April 20, 2022. rials until the last minute and that it was “awful” and “unfortunate” the evi- dence was not turned over sooner. However, she said, it took one phone call to Grant County Sheriff ’s Sgt. Danny Komning the day before the trial began to retrieve the evidence. Komning testifi ed in the fi rst day of the evidentiary hearing he asked the Wheeler County sheriff to conduct an internal aff airs investigation of Smith, and the sheriff recorded the interview with Smith’s accuser. In that interview, according to the recording that was played in court on April 20, Smith’s accuser acknowl- edges placing a tracker on Smith’s vehicle and keeping the Grant County Sheriff ’s Offi ce updated on Smith’s whereabouts. The other recorded interview with Smith’s accuser was conducted by Komning on June 20, 2019. The date of the interview, Smith’s camp argues, is important. In a federal lawsuit fi led by Smith for wrongful termination and civil rights violations, he states that then- Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer called him into his offi ce that day and berated him, saying he knew that Smith planned to make allegations about Deputy Abigail Mobley in an upcom- ing interview with the Oregon Depart- ment of Justice, which was investigat- ing her. Komning testifi ed that Undersheriff Zach Mobley, Abigail’s husband, had called him in on his day off to come into the Sheriff ’s Offi ce and Palmer told him to interview Smith’s accuser and the accuser’s coworker. Komning testifi ed last month that he did not think the recordings were relevant to anything but the internal investigation of Smith that he initi- ated against Smith and not the criminal investigation. Kimberly argued in Monday’s hear- ing that while one could argue Komn- ing had a beef with Smith and, there- fore, was motivated to keep things from him, it is more likely he was asked to take statements and they went no fur- ther and then, several months later, Smith was arrested. Whether it was the right decision or whether, in hindsight, that was an intel- ligent decision, it did not make Komn- ing vindictive or guilty of attempting to obstruct justice and it did not war- rant the case being dismissed, Kim- berly said. Coit fi red back that Komning had a duty under the Brady Rule to turn over the evidence. “That is what the law is,” he said. In the event the judge should rule against dismissal and the case goes to a trial, Coit warned that Komning, Palmer and others would be called as witnesses and cross-examined. “These are people that are most cer- tainly going to be called as witnesses that are going to be extremely damag- ing to the state’s case,” he said. Palmer, the prosecutor and the personnel fi le Coit touched on Grant County Dis- trict Attorney Jim Carpenter’s April 20 testimony in which he said that Palmer had emailed him asking for assistance in fi nding a legal avenue to arrest Haley Olson, Smith’s girlfriend, who claimed on social media that she had docu- ments that proved Smith was innocent 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 special prosecutors, along with Kimberly, who was handling Smith’s case. The entirety of the email exchange, according to Coit, was not turned over to the defense. Kimberly contended that the rea- son the email exchange was brief was because there was nothing more that was discussed. The email exchange was typical of one between prosecutors and sheriff s during pending litigation. “There was no conspiracy,” she said. “There was no bad faith and there certainly was no misconduct.” Coit said the additional personnel fi le that Palmer testifi ed that he kept on Smith and placed in a sealed envelope before leaving offi ce was gutted of any exonerating evidence. Coit asked the court to verify whether the evidence was turned over in a sealed envelope. Kimberly responded that the prose- cution had never been in possession of the personnel fi le and would not have known what was in the fi le. ‘Crossing the thin blue line’ Coit said Smith crossed the “thin blue line” and was the target of retal- iation for allegations he 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 incar- cerated for drug crimes while she was a jail deputy with the Grant County Sheriff ’s Offi ce. The criminal charges brought against him were part of a plan by former Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer, Undersheriff Zach Mobley, Mobley’s wife, Abigail, and Komning, her older brother, to have him removed from the Sheriff ’s Offi ce and get him arrested. Smith also argues that his accuser was a close friend of the Mobleys and Komning. After a 21-month investigation found that Abigail Mobley commit- ted eight violations of the depart- ment’s code of conduct, ranging from abuse of her position to conduct unbe- coming an offi cer and neglect of duty, she resigned from the Sheriff ’s Offi ce on Dec. 26, 2021, following a 30-day suspension. Abigail Mobley, who was on paid leave throughout the investigation, was not found to have used illegal drugs. Circuit Court Judge Dan Bunch said he would issue a written ruling on the motion to dismiss as soon as possible. Outpatient Ear & Foot Clinic Open Monday - Friday 8am - 4pm 422 West Main John Day, OR 97845 Adult Dances Friday & Saturday Parade June 6 - 12, 2022 Friday @ 2 pm always the first full week of june Ed Miller Xtreme Bull Riding Thursday, June 9, 2022 @ 6:30 pm PRCA Rodeo & Horse Racing Friday, June 10, 2022 @ 4 pm Saturday, June 11, 2022 @ 2 pm EMMA EMILY JENNA RICKER ARNOLDUS DENTON Sunday, June 12, 2022 @ 1:30 pm Ears are examined and cleaned by a trained professional. Regular and High Risk foot care done by specially trained RN or CNA. 4-H Horse Show - Mon & Tue, June 6th & 7th 4-H & FFA Livestock Show - Thu & Fri, June 9th & 10th Market Animal Auction - Saturday, June 11th @ 8am ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tickets are available from Queen Candidates or online until June 6th Horsemanship - Sunday, June 5th @ 2pm Queen’s Coronation - Tuesday, June 7th @ 7pm Call to schedule your ear appointment today! 541-575-1648 Contact your Primary Care Provider for foot care referrals. Coffee Break! 18. Affirmatives 20. “Full House” actress Barber 24. Traveled rapidly 26. Long uphol- stered seat 28. Set wages 30. Peter Gabriel song CLUES DOWN 32. Sides of a 1. Looks at for a jacket long time 34. More beautiful 2. Solution for diseases 35. Actress Kate 3. Belonging to a 37. Furniture with thing open shelves 4. Former Packers 38. Indicate fullback 40. The cost of a 34. Pandemonium 5. Contemptible room person 36. Satisfy 42. Gets rid of 6. One billionth 38. Arrived extinct something of a second 39. Shipborne (abbr.) 43. Impudence radar (abbr.) 7. Helps 45. No No No 41. Network of 8. Final section nerves 47. Drunkards of the large 43. Monetary unit 49. Middle eastern intestine 44. Showed old TV 9. Invests in little country show enterprises 50. High energy 46. They help you 10. Look for lasers (abbr.) hear 11. Unbeliefs 51. Primary 48. One who component of 12. Susan and eliminates Tom are two ribosomes 52. Congress’ 14. Female sheep 55. An informal investigative debt instrument 15. A poet writes it arm 53. Parties 54. Most super- natural 56. Takes illegally 57. Breathes while asleep 58. Sea eagles 59. German surname CLUES ACROSS 1. Slovenian mountain 5. Growl 9. Where things stand 11. Made a sharp sound 13. Female spirit in Irish folklore 15. Deteriorate with age 16. A way to save for retirement 17. The Big Apple 19. Intestinal pouches 21. City in New Hampshire 22. Giving a bad impression 23. Samsung laptops 25. Without (French) 26. Scientist’s tool (abbr.) 27. System of one more computers 29. Captures 31. Authentic 33. Female mam- mal’s nipple Be our exclusive Coffee WORDS AILUROPHOBIA CALICO CAT CATNIP CLOWDER DEWCLAW DIGITIGRADE DOMESTIC FELINE FERAL HAIRBALL JOWLS KITTEN KNEAD MEOW NEUTER PAPILLAE PURR SPAY STRAY STROPPING TABBY TONGUE WHISKER Break Reach over 2000 print and digital subscribers each week in The Blue Mountain Eagle sponsor! Call Kim Kell today at 541-575-0710 for more information on this new weekly feature!