‘I still represent her in spirit’
A judge will review conversations between a private investigator and a man accused of helping his girlfriend with a plan to kill her husband.
Judge Ellen Kalama Clark will decide what portions of Ted Pulver's files to give to prosecutors seeking convictions for first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder against Brian L. Moore, who is due in Spokane tonight and will appear in court Tuesday or Wednesday.
"I have significant concerns about how these statements might impact Ms. Stark's issues," Clark said, referring to Shellye L. Stark appealing her March conviction for murder and conspiracy to commit murder."I don't think I can just blankly order Mr. Bradshaw to hand over the materials because it could affect Ms. Stark."
Clark's ruling was in response to a motion to quash a state subpoena for Russell Bradshaw, Stark's former lawyer, (shown above with Stark in December 2007) and Pulver, a private investigator hired by Moore.
Pulver is a key witness in the state case against Moore but has said he won't testify or supply information without a court order.
Bradshaw filed the motion against the subpoena, claiming Pulver's information is off limits under attorney-client privileges.
"It is my duty to protect those materials," said Bradshaw, who was fired by Stark following the jury verdict, along with co-counsel Bryan Whitaker. "I still represent her in spirit."
Clark will redact portions of the materials she deems crucial to Stark's case, then hand over the information to the state.
Deputy Prosecutor Larry Haskell called it "incomprehensible" for Bradshaw to hold Pulver's investigative materials.
Bradshaw said he's simply doing his duty as a defense attorney. Bradshaw also said he didn't know what was in the materials because he hadn't looked them over yet.
Haskell and Deputy Prosecutor Mark Lindsay were overheard outside the courtroom discussing what Lindsay called a conspiracy to deprive the state of the documents, and questioning how lawyers could sit on information that could possibly even exonerate someone.
Read past coverage of the Stark case here.