Smart Attorney Asks for Return of Teen's School Records

Smart Attorney Asks for Return of Teen's School Records


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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The attorney for Elizabeth Smart wants the defense team of the man charged with kidnapping the Utah teen to return her school records.

Smart attorney Greg Skordas filed a motion accusing Brian David Mitchell's lawyers of trying to force a plea deal by harassing the Smart family.

"Their actions have crossed the line from zealousness to bad faith and harassment and should not be tolerated," according to the motion filed Friday in 3rd District Court. A second motion requested that an upcoming subpoena of Smart's medical records be quashed.

Mitchell's attorneys asked for Smart's school records, including her classes, teachers, attendance, report cards and disciplinary reports. Skordas called the subpoenas "offensive," "malicious" and "unethical" and said they were not relevant to the case against Mitchell.

Mitchell, 51, and his wife, Wanda Barzee, 59, are charged with kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault, aggravated burglary and attempted aggravated kidnapping in the 2002 abduction.

Skordas' motion said the defense used the subpoena to "pressure Smart and her family" and "put themselves in a better position to negotiate a better plea deal in exchange for keeping the records confidential," according to court records.

Skordas also learned this week that Mitchell's attorneys plan to subpoena Smart's hospital records.

"The school records (subpoena) is offensive. The hospital records (subpoena) is doubly offensive," he said.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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