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On Tuesday, defense attorneys for Brian David Mitchell told a judge they face an ethical dilemma: They know too much about a government witness who their office has represented in the past.
Assistant Federal Defender Robert Steele, who wouldn't identify the witness publicly, said his office should be taken off the case because the information would be "extremely hurtful" to this former client.
U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball rejected the argument and ordered the Utah Federal Defender Office to continue its representation of Mitchell, who is accused of kidnapping Elizabeth Smart.
Steele declined to disclose the witness's identity, but a Salt Lake Tribune review of court records shows the only person on the witness list to have been represented by the Federal Defender Office is James Robert Purpura.
Purpura pleaded guilty in 2005 to aiding and abetting bank fraud in connection with a counterfeit check scheme and was sentenced to one month in federal prison, according to the docket for U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City. Nothing in the public record explains what connection the witness has to the Smart case.
Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Eileen Barzee, are charged with kidnapping Smart on June 5, 2002, from her Federal Heights home. They were arrested in March 2003 while walking in Sandy with the girl. Barzee pleaded guilty Nov. 17 to kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor and is awaiting
Kimball's ruling means a two-week hearing to determine whether Mitchell is mentally competent to stand trial will begin Monday.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Dave Backman said the witness will not be testifying at the hearing; instead, Michael Welner, a forensic psychiatrist, will testify about what the witness told him in an interview. Welner interviewed numerous people as part of his evaluation of Mitchell's mental state.
Steele said no member of Mitchell's defense team directly represented the witness in the past case. But the lawyers have "knowledge of the witness's case file," which could be used to challenge his or her credibility, he said.
Ethics rules bar attorneys from using information stemming from the representation of a former client to the disadvantage of the client, Steele said.
