A two-day preliminary hearing has been set for Aug. 14-15 in the August 2023 shooting death of Carson City resident Adam Paul Mulkey.
Larry Allen Arnold, 48, and Melissa Nicole Malmstedt, 42, appeared in East Fork Justice Court for a status hearing on Wednesday with their attorneys.
A preliminary hearing determines if a crime has been committed and whether there's slight or marginal evidence the person being held could have committed it. While the hearing does not determine a defendant's guilt, evidence is presented and witnesses are called, providing a preview of the state's case.
Arnold’s attorney Alan J. Buttell filed two motions already in the case, including one for $5,000 to hire a communications expert to review the investigator’s work tracking the couple by their cell phones.
Most of the evidence gathered over the course of a year against Arnold and Malmstedt came from tracking phones and surveillance after Mulkey’s body was discovered at the top of Stephanie Way two years to the day before the scheduled preliminary hearing.
Both are being held without bail.
Malmstedt is accused of luring Mulkey, with whom she had been having an affair, to the isolated location where Arnold is accused of shooting him twice.
Investigators filed a 111-page report detailing their work identifying the pair and tracking their phones. Mazza argued at an April 14 bail hearing for Arnold that the shooting was the result of a love triangle.
Another motion is asking that the reports and exhibits be printed out for Arnold.
In his motion, Buttell said that Arnold was isolated without the means to read the discovery in the digital form provided by the District’s Attorney Office.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Chelsea Mazza has until Monday to file an opposition to the request. In an email included in court documents, Mazza said that her office provides discovery digitally.
It will be up to East Fork Justice of the Peace Laurie Trotter to resolve the issue. She scheduled a May 15 date should she decide to hear argument on the motion and any opposition that’s been filed.