A suspect in the disappearance case of 15-year-old Kiplyn Davis is asking a federal judge to throw out charges against him.

In a motion filed in U.S. District Court on Friday, Timmy Brent Olsen is asking that several counts of perjury before a grand jury and lying to an FBI agent be dismissed. Olsen contends that he was not told by the government that he had a right to consult with an attorney before being brought before a grand jury to testify.

Olsen's defense attorney, Stephen McCaughey, also points out in the motion that in previous interviews the government knew Olsen was represented by attorney Michael Esplin, who advised Olsen to "invoke his Fifth Amendment privilege."

McCaughey notes that despite this knowledge, the government did not notify Esplin that his client had been subpoenaed before a grand jury.

The motion is one of three filed by McCaughey in the past couple of days. Another motion is asking a federal judge to try Olsen in a separate trial on charges not directly related to Davis' disappearance. Among those are allegations that Olsen lied about:

Whether he had nonconsensual sex with three women, including Kiplyn Davis.

Hitting a girl over the head in Oak Creek Canyon.

Whether he ever assaulted his wife.

Olsen is scheduled to stand trial beginning May 1 on a total of 17 counts of lying. He also faces a murder charge in state court related to Davis' disappearance and death but will stand trial on that charge after the federal case is resolved.

In a third motion filed Monday, McCaughey is asking to review the evidence federal prosecutors have in three counts relating to alleged assaults on women, one including his wife, on three separate occasions.

Olsen and four other men were arrested in the culmination of a decade's-long investigation into Davis' disappearance. Federal prosecutors say there was a conspiracy of silence surrounding what happened to Davis. The 15-year-old Spanish Fork High School student vanished from school on May 2, 1995. Authorities now say they believe Davis was taken by one or two fellow students up a nearby canyon where she was raped, murdered and her body was hidden in an unmarked grave.

View Comments

Olsen is charged with lying when he denied telling people that he and co-defendant Rucker Leifson took Davis up a canyon but later returned without her. Federal prosecutors say they have numerous witnesses who have also overheard Olsen say that he killed Davis, something Olsen has denied.

Two other suspects, Garry Von Blackmore and Scott Brunson, have struck plea deals with prosecutors and are expected to testify against Olsen at trial. Leifson, along with Christopher Neal Jeppson, are scheduled for trials of their own in May and June respectively.

U.S. District Attorney for Utah spokeswoman Melodie Rydalch said her office was not commenting on the recent motions but said replies to the motions will be filed as early as Friday.


E-mail: gfattah@desnews.com

Looking for comments?
Find comments in their new home! Click the buttons at the top or within the article to view them — or use the button below for quick access.