Pamela Phillips has been sitting in the Pima County jail since July 2010, unable to post her $5 million bail.
Phillips is accused of being behind the November 1996 death of her former husband, Gary Triano. The Tucson businessman was killed in a pipe bomb explosion. Ronald Young was convicted of building and setting the bomb and is currently serving a life prison sentence.
On March 18, Pima County Superior Court Judge Richard Fields will hear a defense motion asking for Phillips to be released "on the least restrictive conditions necessary."
Defense attorney Paul Eckerstrom writes in his motion "She is innocent. Witnesses and evidence proves her innocence. Ms. Phillips knows that witnesses and evidence prove her innocence. She is not a danger nor a risk of non-appearance."
Eckerstrom goes on to write that despite what authorities claim, Phillips never fled from prosecution; she was visiting her daughter in Europe when the indictment came down.
Her European attorneys told her she couldn't return to the U.S. without special paperwork from Pima County that she never received, he said.
The defense attorney also dropped a bombshell on Page 9 of his motion.
It says "The tasks successfully completed by the perpetrators were not and could not have been performed by one person. The tasks were performed by a 'hit team' consisting of at least three people on scene as well as two different people who wired different parts of the bomb."
Additional evidence on that bombshell has been filed under seal.
The attorneys were in court on Monday to discuss the depositions of three mystery witnesses.
The defense wants the three people deposed, but we don't know why because all of the motions regarding them have been filed under seal.
I know this much — prosecutors think it's too premature to interview them since they haven't received any defense reports on how these people came to light in the first place or what they might say.
I can also tell you that Eckerstrom told Judge Fields they want the depositions to take place "before the witnesses get scared off or something happens to them."
Another hearing has been scheduled for April 30.
Please Wait…