Perjury sentencing delayed in Kiplyn Davis case

Sentencing for two men convicted of perjury in the disappearance case of 15-year-old Kiplyn Davis has been put off pending the appeal by a third perjury convict to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Sentencing hearings for Christopher Neal Jeppson and David Rucker Leifson were scheduled for Friday but were delayed until May 22 while a third man, Timmy Brent Olsen, asks the 10th Circuit for a rehearing in its decision to uphold his 12 1/2-year sentence.

At issue is a federal judge's use of a sentencing enhancement which took Olsen's sentence for perjury from 21 months to 150 months because the perjury was linked to crime of murder. Jeppson and Leifson could also face the same enhancement when sentenced.

Last March, the 10th Circuit upheld Olsen's sentence and use of a "cross-reference" enhancement to the crime of murder. Olsen was convicted of lying to the FBI and a federal grand jury about a series of statements he made to friends that he had killed Davis. Olsen and Jeppson are also both charged with murder in state court and are awaiting trial.

Olsen has filed a motion to have the 10th Circuit rehear his case En Banc, a special hearing in which all circuit judges agree to hear the case rather than the typical three-judge panel.

In motions filed in federal court, attorneys for Jeppson and Leifson say they want to wait until the 10th Circuit decides because the ruling could impact their clients' sentencing.

Davis vanished from Spanish Fork High School on May 2, 1995. Her body has never been found, but police believe she was taken up Spanish Fork Canyon, where she was raped, killed and buried in a secret location.

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