Steven Powell’s lawyers claim illegal search to get child porn, voyeurism charges dismissed
Mar 7, 2012, 5:15 AM | Updated: 6:50 am
Lawyers for the father-in-law of missing Utah woman Susan Powell are trying to suppress evidence seized from his home last summer.
Steven Powell is trying to get the child pornography and voyeurism case against him thrown out. He’s claiming the police searched his home illegally.
Powell’s defense attorney argues the police said they searched his Puyallup home looking for journals his missing daughter-in-law Susan had written, but that was just a cover to get inside the home and conduct an unconstitutional “fishing expedition” to find anything on Josh Powell.
The discovery of the 2000 images of naked or semi-nude women found on Steven Powell’s computer were the product of that illegal search.
If this argument is successful,The News Tribune reports the 14 charges against Steven Powell would likely be dismissed.
Powell is set to face trial later this month on charges of voyeurism and child pornography.
The prosecutor’s office says the police were meticulous in drafting the warrant and conducting the search, and it believes the charges will stick.
Susan Powell’s husband, Josh, killed himself and their two children in a fire at his rental home last month.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
