Cop Threatened Witness w/ Arrest & ‘Catch Pole For The Dog’ If She Didn’t Prepare For Testimony

The lead detective in the murder case against a Utah woman accused of poisoning her husband with fentanyl threatened a witness with arrest and “a catch pole for the dog” if she didn’t meet with him to prepare for her testimony. He also said he wouldn’t tell her when she’d have to testify and she’d instead have to report to the courthouse every morning.

The witness was Anna Isbell, whose late boyfriend, Hayden Jeffs, was Kouri Richins’ handyman before he died in a motorcycle crash.

Isbell testified on Friday that she overheard a phone call between him and Richins in which Jeffs indicated he was upset that Richins had asked him for fentanyl.

In cross-exam, Richins’ lawyer Wendy Lewis questioned Isbell about Detective Jeff O’Driscoll of the Summit County Sheriff’s Office pressuring her to meet with them to prepare for her testimony.

Lewis displayed texts in which O’Driscoll told Isbell, “Make your life easier and answer our calls so we can prep you on what you will be asked. Otherwise, the next time I knock on your door, I’ll have a warrant and a catch pole for the dog.”

Isbell replied, “I don’t need to be prepped. Give me the time and date and I will appear.”

Isbell testified she was “livid” and “very upset” by the texts.

“I thought I was rude, inconsiderate, not how you should treat somebody that did nothing wrong,” Isbell said on Friday (February 27).

Lewis asked about O’Driscoll telling Isbell if she didn’t meet with them to prepare for her testimony, they won’t tell her which day she’s to testify, and she’ll have to go to the courthouse every trial day and wait all day.

“That’s because you didn’t want to come in and be prepped, correct?” asked Lewis, who is law partners in Salt Lake City with Richins’ lawyer Kathy Nester.

“I didn’t want to speak to them at all,” Isbell answered.

“Alright, but you never refuse to come in and testify because you were legally obligated to do so. Is that fair?” Lewis asked.

“I never refused,” Isbell answered.

Lewis’ cross was much longer than Isbell’s three-minute direct-exam in which she testified about the phone call she heard between Jeffs and Richins.

The testimony is a good example of when hearsay is admissible in trials. We saw testimony that appeared to be about hearsay during Carmen Lauber’s testimony because the statements were from Richins and hearsay is not legally considered hearsay if the statements are from a third-party opponent such as a criminal defendant.

In this clip, Isbell’s testimony about what she heard her boyfriend say is allowed because prosecutors are eliciting it to show jurors how it affected the listener, who was Richins.

“So ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Jeffs’ side of this conversation, as related by Ms. Bell, that’s an out-of-court statement that you cannot consider for its truth,” said Judge Richard Mrazik.

Isbell testified before Robert Crozier, who Lauber testified supplied her the fentanyl she got for Richins. Crozier, however, testified he wasn’t selling fentanyl then and had no access to it.

Trial resumes Monday (March 2) at the Silver Summit Justice Center in Park City.

source