Final pretrial hearing held in Martin MacNeill murder case
Posted in The MacNeill Story on October 10th, 2013 by admin – 3 CommentsAl Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Martin MacNeill, a doctor accused of murdering his wife appears in Judge Sam McVey’s Fourth District Court in Provo Wednesday October 10 for his preliminary hearing.
October 09, 2013 12:25 am • Paige Fieldsted – Daily Herald
PROVO — In the final hearing before Martin MacNeill stands trial for murder a number of motions were ruled in hopes of making the extensive trial run smoothly and without interruptions.
Fourth District Judge Derek Pullan ruled that prosecutors cannot elicit opinions about whether or not MacNeill grieved appropriately or not following the death of his wife, Michele. Prosecutors may call on witnesses to describe how MacNeill acted and what they saw and heard but the decision as to whether that was appropriate grief will be left to jury.
Judge Pullan also denied a motion to dismiss the obstruction of justice charge against MacNeill. Defense attorney Randy Spencer argued that the statute of limitations had run out and it wasn’t his clients fault that he was in federal prison in Texas and couldn’t be prosecuted before the statute ran out. Pullan denied the motion saying that MacNeill made the choice to be in Texas by committing a federal crime in a state where there is no federal prison.
Judge Pullan also ruled that several federal inmates and at least one former Utah County Jail inmate can testify at the trial. Spencer argued that the inmates are inherently unreliable and are therefore not competent to testify. Judge Pullan said that the defense could show unreliability through cross examination and that there was no legal reason as to why the inmates testimony should be excluded from trial. Pullan, however, did order that the Utah County Attorney’s Office disclose any offers or deals that have been given to or will be given to the inmates based on their cooperation at trial. read more »