Defense attorneys threw an interesting twist into what was supposed to be a routine pretrial hearing Tuesday for Andrew Orellana, a Sioux City man accused of shooting and killing a rival gang member back in 1997.

Prior to the hearing, Orellana’s attorneys filed a motion asking prosecutors to produce a variety of evidence.

Tops on the list was details of a phone call someone made to Sioux City police, reporting that a gun used in the murder was in a police officer’s mailbox.

Say what?

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The silence has broken.

Although there have been several filings over the summer in Timothy Sohler’s murder case, most were to postpone court dates or involved regular court procedures.

That’s a stark contrast to the Lawrence Douglas Harris murder case, during which I accumulated two huge stacks of court filings.

However, in the past few weeks attorneys for both sides in the Sohler case have shown a bit more about what we may see when he goes to trial on Oct. 20.

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A Sioux City woman pleaded guilty to state charges that she bought or “smurfed” ingredients for a man who oversaw a huge Siouxland meth-manufacturing conspiracy.

According to court documents, Breann Ebner, 24, of Sioux City, pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine.

Woodbury County District Court Judge John D. Ackerman suspended Ebner’s  10-year prison sentence and ordered her to serve three years of probation.

According to court documents, Ebner admitted to buying 25 boxes of pseudoephedrine for Anthony Grenier, who she lived with for a time.

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If you haven’t checked out the Journal’s live blog of jury selection in the murder trial for Lawrence Douglas Harris of Sioux City, you are missing out.

It’s addictive.

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