OGDEN -- The defense is asking Weber County to pay $10,000 for an investigator for Matthew David Stewart.
Stewart's lawyer also plans to tell his client not to do any more jailhouse interviews.
Stewart is charged with aggravated murder, which carries the death penalty, in the Jan. 4 shooting death of Weber-Morgan Narcotics Strike Force agent Jared Francom during a drug raid, and seven counts of attempted aggravated murder for allegedly shooting at seven other officers, injuring five.
Stewart granted a short jailhouse interview with a Salt Lake Tribune reporter over the weekend. In it, he said he didn't know the officers he shot at were police serving a warrant when they forced their way into his home.
Randy Richards, Stewart's lawyer, said Monday his client didn't tell him of the interview or he would have tried to talk him out of it.
"I tell my clients never to talk to the press," he said. "Any defense attorney feels that way. I don't even allow them to talk to the police without me there."
As to Stewart's claims, Richards said, "I'm not going to comment on any of it. ... I wouldn't venture a guess at our defense theory at this point. It's premature. I haven't seen all the reports yet."
Richards bristled when asked if he had heard before Stewart's claims that he didn't know who the officers were.
"Why don't I just toss attorney- client privilege out the window and stop practicing law?"
In a motion filed Monday, Richards is requesting that 2nd District Judge Noel Hyde order the appointment of Kris Cantil as a private investigator for Stewart.
Stewart, says the motion, is indigent, meaning he lacks the funds to pay an investigator and should qualify for an appropriation paid out of Weber County's funds for indigent defense.
Cantil, of Bountiful, a former accountant before her 14 years as an investigator, charges $75 an hour, according to her resume, and was part of the defense team that won the acquittal of Salt Lake Olympic officials Tom Welch and Dave Johnson on bribery charges in 2003.
"Ethically, nobody's supposed to be trying this case in the press," Richards said, referring to Stewart's interview.
"The problem, generally, is you get caught up in the moment and say things that, even if you're being honest, can come back to bite you."
Stewart also told the Tribune he was getting "another" attorney. Richards said he believes Stewart meant an additional attorney, because two defense attorneys typically try capital cases.
As of Monday, he said, Stewart has made no complaints to him. "None at all. He's happy with me."
Richards has been hired by Stewart, but his funds are now exhausted, which will likely require the county to pay for a second defense attorney, Richards said.
He said that discussion has not officially begun.
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