Mitchell's lawyers want jury restricted

Among a flurry of otherwise routine defense motions filed Friday in the case of Brian David Mitchell, who is accused of kidnapping Elizabeth Smart, was one not often seen in a Utah criminal case. His attorneys asked the judge to sequester the jurors during what is estimated to be a three-week trial.

Calling the Salt Lake teen's June 2002 abduction "probably . . . the most covered case in the history of the state of Utah," Mitchell's court-appointed attorneys said they expect the scheduled February trial to generate similarly intense, and possibly prejudicial, coverage.

"Given the media attention to date, it is a virtual certainty that Mr. Mitchell's trial will generate daily stories on every television station and newspaper in the country, if not the world," the motion says. "There is simply no way, without sequestration, that the court can adequately protect jurors and Mr. Mitchell from the level of coverage in this case."

Sequestration of jurors is virtually unheard of in Utah, with jurors in even the most high-profile cases — such as the 1974 Ogden Hi-Fi Shop murders — still allowed to return to their homes at night.

However, in the March 1988 capital murder trial of Ralph LeRoy Menzies, jurors were sequestered after two were disqualified, one received an anonymous telephone call about the case and another succumbed to emotional distress.

Brigham Young University law professor Marguerite Driessen said Friday's motion, although unusual, is one she would have made if she were defending the case.

"You don't get the requests very often, but I'm not surprised by this request," Driessen said. "It's an extremely high-profile case. And, frankly, when it's this high profile, you're more likely to see a request granted."

Though sometimes called for, she said, the practical implications of sequestering a jury can be onerous and expensive.

"Sequestration is fairly difficult if you've got a trial that you think is going to take a long time, because you essentially have to put the jurors up in a trial and control any outside influences," Driessen said.

And Mitchell's attorneys have asked for some fairly strict controls, such as the removal of Bibles and other religious texts from jurors' hotel rooms. The motion also seeks to restrict their presence in public areas, such as churches and restaurants, where defense attorneys fear they could be inadvertently exposed to discussions about the case.

Defense attorneys on Friday also offered a proposed written questionnaire to screen potential jurors as to what impact, if any, pre-trial publicity has had on their opinion of the case.