The violation of attorney-client privilege is so egregious that charges against Thomas James Zajac should be dropped, attorney Ed Wall argued.
Wall claims that agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) reviewed recordings of about 40 telephone calls made by Zajac from the Weber County jail to lawyers and provided written reports on them to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Prosecutor Carlos Esqueda denied the allegation.
He said telephone conversations were recorded - as nearly all calls in the jail are - but prosecutors and agents did not listen to the calls or receive summaries of them, he said. Rather, they received only a listing of the calls made, Esqueda said at a hearing before U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball.
"The government never intended to use this evidence," Esqueda said. "The government hasn't even seen it."
Wall countered that tapes of the calls are being held by the government, a situation he likened to "a wolf guarding the hen house."
Kimball took the arguments under consideration and said he would issue a ruling later.
What the case is about:
Thomas James Zajac is facing six charges related to the detonation of a bomb at the Salt Lake City Main Library, 210 E. 400 South. Investigators think the 54-year-old Illinois man, formerly of Salt Lake City and Provo, carried a small pipe bomb concealed in a bag from an Arby's restaurant into the library on Sept. 15, 2006. The device exploded on the third floor of the building, destroying a large double-paned window but causing no injuries.
