RADFORD -- Sparks flew in the Bob Shell murder case Friday, when his lawyer questioned a letter sent to witnesses by court clerks and said the city's commonwealth's attorney shouldn't be allowed to prosecute Shell.

Shell, a photographer, faces several charges, including felony homicide and defiling a corpse, in the June 3, 2003, death of 19-year-old Marion Franklin. He is accused of supplying the morphine that killed Franklin after she posed for a photo shoot at his West Main Street studio.

The case was originally scheduled to go to trial in March 2004 but has been postponed several times. It's scheduled to go forward Aug. 20 and last at least two weeks.

At a motions hearing that lasted two and a half hours in Radford Circuit Court on Friday, Shell's lawyer, Jonathon Venzie, produced an e-mail sent to a defense witness by Commonwealth's Attorney Chris Rehak.

The e-mail, in part, referenced "what Bob did to Marion and why" and said "I would hate for you to come to VA and find out things about Bob that you weren't aware of and them being a complete shock to you."

"I would submit to the court that that's tampering with a witness," Venzie told Circuit Court Judge Joey Showalter.

Venzie, Shell's third lawyer since he was charged, claimed that Rehak either was trying to persuade the witness, who lives in New York, not to show up for the trial or to change her testimony or was implying that the defense had lied to her.

Rehak said Venzie took the e-mail out of context. It was simply an attempt to contact the witness, who called and had a friendly conversation with him. After the conversation, he said, the woman said she still planned to testify in court.

But Venzie said that if the witness claims at the trial that she was intimidated, "the case stops right there." He suggested that Rehak should be removed from the case.

Showalter asked Venzie to file a motion and scheduled a motions hearing for Thursday evening.

At that hearing, Circuit Court Clerk Zelda Vaughn and a deputy court clerk could end up taking the witness stand. A letter they sent some out-of-state witnesses, which said the subpoenas mailed to them by the defense were not "proper, binding" subpoenas, was inappropriate, Venzie said.

Subpoenas aren't binding until they are served, which can only be done in Virginia, but Venzie said the letter "was an invitation for them not to show up."

He wants to ask the clerks -- under oath, he said -- who authorized it.

Venzie and Showalter argued for several minutes over whether the letter was accurate.

Either way, Venzie said, "What's the purpose of this letter and who instructed it to be sent?"

"Well what does it matter?" Showalter asked. "It didn't say, 'Don't show up.' "

Combined with Rehak's e-mail to the witness, the letter, Venzie said, "can only ask the question what in the world is going on here?"

Rehak said the defense has subpoenaed all of its witnesses improperly and implied that Venzie and Shell could be trying to again delay the trial. Rehak did not elaborate on his statement about the defense witnesses.

Said Showalter: "Oh, we're starting on the 20th."

Also at Thursday's hearing, Showalter heard Venzie's motions to exclude some evidence in the case, including Franklin's toxicology report, a morphine bottle, a Valium bottle and the flash card from the camera Shell used to photograph Franklin the night she died.

Showalter overruled all but one of the motions. He will rule at Thursday's hearing, after testimony from a witness who wasn't present on Friday, whether to exclude the morphine bottle.