Prosecutor: Murder only explanation for Kiplyn Davis disappearance
There is no body, and a judge has ruled the death certificate is inadmissible. But prosecutor Mariane O'Bryant still believes she can prove Kiplyn Davis was murdered, and that Timmy Brent Olsen was involved.
"The only conclusion that can be reached under these circumstances is that Kiplyn is dead, and the cause is unnatural," O'Bryant said Thursday in a 4th District Court hearing where she recounted the May 1995 disappearance of the 15-year-old Spanish Fork resident.
Prosecutors are fighting a motion by Olsen's lawyer to drop the case for a lack of evidence.
Earlier this week, Judge Lynn W. Davis had tossed out the death certificate as evidence. This issue was raised by attorneys for Christopher Neal Jeppson, who, along with Olsen, is being charged in connection with the Davis disappearance.
On Thursday, Olsen attorney Jeremey Delicino told the judge that without that certificate, the body or a crime scene, prosecutors "only have circumstantial evidence and innuendo."
But O'Bryant said the death-certificate decision does not affect her case. The evidence --including Olsen's statements to others admitting he killed her -- shows Kiplyn is dead.
Delicino retorted that Olsen's statements were made when he was intoxicated, thus rendering them untrustworthy without corroborating evidence.
While Olsen and Jeppson have both been convicted on federal perjury charges for making false statements to investigators and a grand jury, Delicino said that is not evidence of guilt. It just means they made inconsistent statements.
He also said Kiplyn also had problems with her parents at the time of her disappearance, was cutting classes and even talked of suicide.
Countered prosecutor O'Bryant: Kiplyn was a typical teenager with all the usual emotional ups and downs, but there was nothing to suggest she would run away or kill herself.
O'Bryant is taking a fall-back position, though: If the court agrees there is insufficient evidence, she wants the charges left intact pending an appeal. She said that is necessary because Olsen is also serving a federal prison sentence for perjury, and the state would lose any chance of trying him if he were to go back into federal custody -- even if Kiplyn's body were found.
The judge also will decide if prosecutors can introduce testimony from Olsen's ex-girlfriend that he raped her when she pressed him about Kiplyn's disappearance.
U.S. Attorney Richard Lambert, who is serving as co-counsel with O'Bryant, said the woman's testimony, which was used in the perjury trial, not only shows Olsen is guilty, but illustrates how Kiplyn was killed.
The woman, Lambert said, testified that when she asked Olsen about his role in Kiplyn's disappearance, Olsen struck her, forced her into his truck and drove to a railroad tunnel in Spanish Fork Canyon where he raped her.
That testimony corresponds with an account Olsen gave another woman as to what he did to Kiplyn.
But Delicino wants that testimony excluded. It would unduly prejudice the jury against his client, he said. He also noted that Olsen was never charged with the alleged rape.
Davis will conduct a closed hearing on the matter May 5.
http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100020825&docId=l:954039890&start=14
