By Jacquelyn Springgay
The parents who kidnapped their daughter the day before her scheduled wedding appeared in 4th District Court last week.
Julia and Lemuel Redd, parents of BYU student Julianna Myers, stood in front of Judge Taylor on Thursday with their new attorney, Rhome Zabriskie.
“We”re anxious to get [the case] moving along,” Zabriskie said. He asked the judge to set any “available date” for a preliminary hearing.
Judge Taylor scheduled their hearing for Dec. 6 but said he would be very understanding of the state because of problems with getting all the witnesses.
The Redds hired Zabriskie on Wednesday, one day before their appearance in court on Thursday. Zabriskie said he was hired because of “personal reasons” but did not know what those personal reasons were.
After the judge finished setting the next court date, the Redds left the courtroom facing a frenzy of media.
Zabriskie quickly followed them to the stairs where they fled the courthouse. Zabriskie stayed behind to talk to the media saying that the Redds “elected on their own to not make any comments.” He said they were “uncomfortable with the attention.”
Taking the place of the couple”s former attorney Greg Skordas, Zabriskie said “the case is so new that I haven”t even talked to Skordas about the case. I”ve just reviewed the police reports and court documents.”
Zabriskie said he hopes that the case will be dismissed, and that he “[feels] there isn”t enough evidence to support the allegations.”
“We will see where the evidence takes us,” he said. “I feel good about the case.”
The case is causing the family a lot of stress, Zabriskie said. “We would have done [the preliminary hearing] today if we had to.”
Although Zabriskie wouldn”t comment on the relationships between the family members, Julianna Myers, who married BYU student Perry Myers several days after their scheduled wedding date, has said that she will not talk with her mother until she stops trying to ruin her family.
Julia and Lemuel Redd will appear in court for their preliminary hearing on Dec. 6 at 2 p.m. in 4th District Court in Provo.
