An Idaho judge once again ordered Bannock County prosecutors to comply with discovery rules in the Ligertown animal cruelty case, but this time he set a deadline.

Idaho Magistrate Mark Beebe granted a defense motion to compel prosecutors to follow rules that allow the defense access to all evidence that might be used against defendants at trial.Defense attorney Kim Claussen said Beebe set a Dec. 15 deadline for prosecutors to give any evidence that will be used against Dotti Martin and Robert Fieber, the owners of the Ligertown Game Farm in Lava Hot Springs, Idaho.

Prosecutor Mark Diehl said officials aren't intentionally holding back information, Ligertown is just a complex case.

"There's just a large volume of information," Diehl said. "We have a lot of people sending us stuff, and we're going to turn it over as fast as we can."

The charges against the couple stem from a Sept. 20 incident in which 19 lions escaped from their cages and were shot and killed by Bannock County deputies and two Lava Hot Springs residents.

Claussen said any evidence prosecutors don't produce for the defense by Dec. 15 cannot be used at trial Jan. 22. The couple faces 107 misdemeanor charges, including animal cruelty, public nuisance and possessing protected animal species.

"Dec. 15 is getting right on the edge of trial," Claussen said. Claussen also made motions to have 86 of the misdemeanor charges dropped, to move the trial out of Bannock County and to suppress the state's search warrant.

On the motion to dismiss 86 of the misdemeanors, which are animal-cruelty and possessing protected-species charges, the judge gave prosecutors a week to amend the charges and be more specific about the acts Martin and Fieber are accused of committing.

For example, on the cruelty charges, Beebe wants amended charges to outline exactly what the couple did to the African lions and hybrid wolves that was cruel, Claussen said.

On the possessing protected species charges, Beebe asked what parts the couple is accused of having and how the animals are protected.

A motion to suppress the search warrant used to gain access into the Ligertown cages was taken under advisement. The judge gave prosecutors 10 days to respond to Claussen's brief on the motion in writing.

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The judge also took under advisement a motion to move the trial out of Bannock County. Claussen said he submitted 52 pages of local newspaper articles and about 120 pages of television news transcripts. He also submitted video tapes of local news programs.

Diehl said prosecutors filed a motion to have a jury visit the Ligertown property in person. Claussen said he will fight that, as it's aimed at "getting the jury all worked up about how messy it was."

Diehl said the judge also took that decision under advisement. The county is in the process of condemning the Ligertown property, owned by Fieber's parents. The couple has filed an appeal to that decision alleging their constitutional rights were violated.

Except for the attorneys involved in the case, everyone, including the defendants, is under a gag order, which commands them not to talk to the media. That was issued a month ago at the request of both prosecutors and defense attorneys.

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