Lytle Fights To Get Abuse Evidence Stricken

SPOKANE – With his trial less than a month away Jonathan Lytle is trying to get testimony about the abuse his daughter suffered stricken from the case.

Lytle, who has been fighting his prosecution over the death of his daughter Summer Phelps, is suspected of abusing his daughter to death. As part of his defense strategy he doesn’t want his jury to know about a shock collar allegedly used to discipline the child.

According to the defense demonstrating the effects of a shock collar is not only inflammatory… It’s also irrelevant.

When police searched Jon and Adriana Lytle’s Spokane apartment they found a shock collar. After the couple was arrested they told investigators how they would use the collar to stop their child’s temper tantrums.

Prosecutors want to use the collar as an example of the ongoing torture Summer Phelps faced in the last days and weeks of her life. However Lytle’s defense team doesn’t want the jury to know about the device. They claim that because Lytle is charged with homicide by abuse only the attacks that caused her death should be admitted as evidence.

Spokane’s medical examiner says it’s unlikely the shock collar killed Summer which is part of the reason why next week the defense will ask the court bar any mention of the collar during trial.

In another pre-trial revelation, Jon Lytle plans to call his wife Adriana to the stand as a witness for his defense, even though the couple have been adversaries since their arrest.

While her husband has fought being prosecuted Adriana already pled guilty this summer for her role in Summer’s death.

By pleading guilty to a charge of homicide by abuse she faces a minimum 20-year prison sentence. Adriana Lytle is scheduled to be sentenced after her husband’s trial, which gets underway on October 13th.