XPost: alt.fan.states.iowa, alt.politics.immigration, alt.journalism.newspapers   
   XPost: sac.politics   
   From: criminally-complicit@sfchronicle.com   
      
   MONTEZUMA — A judge decided not to take any action on last   
   week’s arguments over subpoenas being improperly filed by the   
   defense for the man charged with killing University of Iowa   
   student Mollie Tibbetts in 2018.   
      
   The prosecution asked the judge to quash a subpoena for   
   Tibbetts’ bank account at Bankers Trust in Des Moines. They   
   argued the defense didn’t give prosecutors notice and that this   
   type of subpoena isn’t allowed because it isn’t connected to a   
   deposition or trial.   
      
   Assistant Iowa Attorney General Scott Brown also asked the court   
   to admonish the attorneys for first-degree murder defendant   
   Cristhian Bahena Rivera. He questioned whether Jennifer and Chad   
   Frese understood the rules.   
      
   Eighth Judicial District Judge Joel Yates, in his ruling, found   
   the motion moot because the bank account didn’t exist. The   
   defense revealed that fact during the hearing. Jennifer Frese   
   said the lack of notification was just a “clerical oversight”   
   and the prosecution received the notice after the fact.   
      
   “The court declines to issue an admonishment in this situation,”   
   Yates said in the ruling. “However, the court relies upon the   
   statements from counsel and expects the parties to follow our   
   procedural rules.”   
      
   During last week’s hearing, Frese didn’t explain why they sought   
   Tibbetts’ banking records, but in her written argument said they   
   were following up on an investigation started by the state into   
   Tibbetts’ bank records.   
      
   A tip was made to law enforcement Aug. 1, 2018, from a bank   
   employee that Tibbetts had set up a bank account just before her   
   death, Frese said. There also was information that a transaction   
   was made on the account at a tattoo shop after her death,   
   according to her written argument.   
      
   Frese said law enforcement didn’t follow up, so they were trying   
   to “fill the holes in.” She didn’t provide further details to   
   protect their trial strategy, she said.   
      
   Bahena Rivera, 26, a Mexican national living illegally in the   
   United States, is accused of fatally stabbing 20-year-old   
   Tibbetts, who went missing July 18, 2018, while jogging in her   
   hometown of Brooklyn, Iowa.   
      
   Her body was found Aug. 21, 2018, in a cornfield where Bahena   
   Rivera led authorities.   
      
   Bahena Rivera’s trial is set for May 17.   
      
   Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com   
      
   https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/public-safety/judge-   
   takes-no-action-in-attorneys-subpoena-dispute-over-mollie-   
   tibbetts-banking-records-that-dont-exist-20210203   
        
      
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