Lawyer cites irregularities, seeks probe

An attorney representing a Davis County man accused of killing his ex-wife and injuring her father wants possible spying, mail tampering and unauthorized conversations regarding his client investigated.

David Edward Drommond, 31, is charged in 2nd District Court with capital murder and faces a possible death sentence if convicted in the August 2005 shooting death of 29-year-old Janeil Drommond.

Drommond is also accused of shooting Neil Reed Bradley, his former father-in-law, during the same incident. Bradley's injuries were serious, but he survived.

During Monday's court hearing, defense attorney Craig Peterson wanted it noted on the record that some fishy, if not bizarre, incidents involving his client have been happening over the past few months.

One of his concerns was that letters sent from Drommond to the defense's mitigation expert were being opened by the Davis County Jail, resealed and sent off, according to Peterson. The mitigation expert should fall under the same category of attorney-client privilege, and the correspondence should not be opened, he said.

In another incident, a licensed clinical social worker at the jail who was giving counseling to Drommond may have been overheard talking to deputies about the case, according to Peterson.

Peterson admitted Monday it was unknown what the context of the conversation was, if any privileged details were released or if there was any misconduct at all. However, he said he had mentioned the incident to prosecutors and the judge in December in private, but no action had been taken. Now, he wanted it on the record just to make sure all his bases were covered.

"I just need to know," he said.

In a third and the most bizarre incident, Peterson said a snitch or spy may have been sent into his office with a hidden microphone to record their conversation.

He said an inmate claiming to be a friend of Drommond went to Peterson's office claiming to have a message he needed to deliver from Drommond. After speaking with him for 10 minutes, Peterson said he didn't like the questions the man was asking and told him to leave.

When the inmate returned to the Davis County Jail, he reportedly told other inmates that he had struck some sort of deal with the Davis County Sheriff's Office to act as a spy for them and walked into Peterson's office wired.

Peterson admitted Monday the alleged snitch's story could be completely false. But he again thinks it's something the Davis County Attorney's Office needs to look into.