OGDEN — Sarah Munn was in court Tuesday on charges related to a body found buried in her yard, but the hallway conversation was about the man police say dug the hole.
As to charges against Daniel Rivera, after Munn’s last hearing on Feb. 21, Weber County Attorney Dee Smith said a big question remaining was which county, Davis or Weber, to file them in.
Smith would not comment further after Tuesday’s status conference for Munn, who is charged with obstruction of justice regarding the recovery of the body of Victor Flores, 25, on Feb. 10 in her Roy backyard. Rivera dug the hole where the body was buried, according to court documents tied to the charges against Munn.
Ron Yengich, Munn’s defense attorney, said he would not be representing Rivera if charges are filed against him. Rivera is the father of Munn’s three children.
Veteran defense attorney Camille Nieder, on hand for the hearing, afterward said she probably would be representing Rivera. She has been consulting with both Smith and Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings about pending charges against him.
She has been Rivera’s attorney on prior cases and said she has been talking with prosecutors in both counties on Rivera’s behalf, even before Flores’ body was found.
She declined to comment further as she and Smith went into a private meeting after Tuesday’s hearing. Rivera has been in Utah State Prison since last fall on charges unrelated to the discovery of the body.
Flores moved to Layton from San Gabriel, Calif., and was reported missing by his family in May 2011.
Last month, police said Flores was stabbed to death, and that Daniel Rivera was one of the last to see Flores alive.
According to a probable cause affidavit for Munn’s obstruction charge, Rivera received a cut to his face that required 35 stitches the same day Flores disappeared.
Munn first told police Rivera had been hurt in a road-rage incident, then changed her statement, saying she caused the injury. That led to the obstruction of justice charge.
Tuesday’s hearing, a status conference before 2nd District Judge Noel Hyde, was continued to May 1 for another status conference.
Yengich is already representing Munn on a Davis County charge of harboring an escapee, for which she has a hearing today. She was charged last September after telling police she had not seen Rivera since he had walked away from a work crew while in Weber County Jail in August, leading to the charge of escape for which he is now in prison.
Police later learned Munn had been with Rivera after he escaped. She also faces drug charges in both counties.
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