100 years ago today in Spokane, prosecutors rejected claims they’d ‘bugged’ Dodd’s brothers

Prosecutors scoffed at the claim that they had been wire-tapping the phones of Maurice Codd’s brothers.

Little evidence existed that any wire-tapping had been attempted at all, and certainly not by his office, said county prosecutor Willam C. Meyer,

The local phone company manager said that someone – presumably the Codds – had reported something fishy going on with their phones three weeks earlier.

The manager investigated and found no indications of wire-tapping. The manager said he removed the “drop wires” to the house, just in case.

The Spokane Daily Chronicle said prosecutors have branded the allegation “Codd smoke screen No. 1” and said it was created by the “Codd faction” to generate sympathy.

If it was a smoke screen, there was at least a tiny bit of actual smoke in evidence, if not actual fire. The man who owned the neighboring house said he rented it to the Burns Detective Agency for the previous months. The Codds claimed they had “approved” a man and woman in the house, using a dictaphone.

The Codds’ lawyer refused to comment. The Codds and numerous others were awaiting trial on charges of suborning perjury and conspiracy during Maurice Codd’s murder trial.

So on this date

(From onthisday.com)

1996: In Afghanistan, the Taliban capture Kabul after driving out President Burhanuddin Rabbani and executing Mohammad Najibullah.

2012: The Mars Curiosity rover discovers evidence of a fast-moving streambed on Mars.