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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Federal prosecutors say convicted perjurer Timmy Brent Olsen has obstructed justice in a "calculated, persistent and callous" way throughout the investigation of the 1995 disappearance of a 15-year-old girl and accordingly should be sentenced to a lengthier prison term.
Prosecutors in the U.S. attorney's office filed a motion late Tuesday saying they object to the recommendation made by a presentencing report written by a U.S. probation officer because it fails to account for aspects of Olsen's behavior that should call for a more severe penalty.
The motion said Olsen has "obstructed justice throughout the investigation, prosecution and sentencing of the instant offense, and of a closely related offense; that is the disappearance and murder of Kiplyn Davis."
Olsen, 29, faces state charges of murder in the case after federal sentencing.
Prosecutors contend Olsen continued to obstruct justice by creating a "ruse and charade" when he told agents he had more information in the case, and that he did so to receive more favorable treatment during sentencing. Olsen led agents on what prosecutors called a "wild goose chase" when he led agents to various locations in Spanish Fork Canyon where he said the girl was buried, then changed his story and ultimately said he lied about her location.
Since his July 19 conviction in U.S. District Court on 15 counts of perjury, Olsen has continued to obstruct justice by telling his girlfriend and parents not to cooperate with investigators, the motion said.
Due to this behavior, and testimony during his trial that Olsen had committed other crimes for which he's never been charged or convicted, prosecutors are asking that Olsen be sentenced to the higher end of a range between 27 and 33 years in federal prison. The presentencing report is sealed by the court making it unclear how much of an increase prosecutors are asking for.
Olsen's attorney, Stephen McCaughey, also filed motions on Tuesday asking that prosecutors be forced to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Olsen was responsible for the girl's presumed death before suggesting that his sentence reflect a link to such a crime.
"It's important to remember that the defendant was not on trial for murder, he was on trial for perjury," McCaughey's motion said.
He also asked that his client receive a reduction for accepting some responsibility by admitting he lied to the grand jury investigating the disappearance of Kiplyn.
During Olsen's trial, witnesses testified that Olsen, who was 18 when Kiplyn vanished, said things as brazen as "I know that (expletive), I killed her." Others testified that he had asked them to help him establish a false alibi or told them he was in a canyon with Kiplyn and a friend, David Rucker Leifson, the afternoon she disappeared and blamed Leifson for her death.
Leifson is scheduled for trial on federal perjury charges in the case early next year.
Hearings have been scheduled for Nov. 8 and Nov. 16 to deal with the presentencing motions for Olsen. Sentencing is set for Nov. 21.
Olsen is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on the state murder charge beginning Dec. 6 in 4th District Court in Provo.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
