Aug 2, 2013 3 min read

RIPLEY, W.Va. (AP) – A West Virginia man accused of torturing his wife for years may be present for the private home birth of their second child, and the couple can spend five days together, a judge ruled Friday.

Jackson County Judge Thomas Evans allowed Peter Lizon to have contact with his wife, Stephanie, when she gives birth this month despite the fact that he faces three counts each of malicious wounding and domestic battery.

Lizon is on home confinement while awaiting trial, and his defense team had asked for a bond modification. His wife is not cooperating with prosecutors.

The Lizons’ first child was also delivered at home. Stephanie Lizon’s parents in Alexandria, Va., now have custody of the 2-year-old boy.

Evans also scheduled arguments for Aug. 19 on Peter Lizon’s motion to dismiss the charges against him. Attorneys filed several motions on his behalf Thursday, claiming authorities waited too long to begin a prosecution.

Defense attorneys also say the charges should be tossed because the original prosecutor, Kennad Skeen, had a conflict of interest.

That motion says that when Skeen took office Jan. 1, the Lizon case had already been sent to the grand jury for review. Skeen then participated in both phone calls and written correspondence about the case before the indictment was handed up June 25.

On July 5, Skeen moved to recuse himself because he had represented both Lizons in separate civil and criminal matters dating to 2008.

Skeen was disqualified July 9, and Mason County Prosecutor Craig Tatterson took over. But Peter Lizon’s lawyers say Skeen labored under that conflict of interest, creating a “fundamental error in the grand jury proceeding that can only be cured by dismissal.”

Defense attorney Mike Hissam didn’t want to comment beyond the motions.

Stephanie Lizon, meanwhile, has said the couple is the victim of an overzealous prosecution and unfounded stories by people who don’t know them.

She accused workers from the state Department of Health and Human Resources of using threats and intimidation after she testified last year at a preliminary hearing that accusations of torture were false.

Last July, Stephanie Lizon fled from her husband while at an equipment rental company, looking gaunt and limping. When she told staff she was trying to escape, an employee gave her the number for a domestic violence shelter and cash for a cab ride.

At the shelter, Stephanie Lizon told of being held captive for the better part of a decade – beaten, burned and even shackled during childbirth.

The criminal complaint said she had “mutilated and swollen” feet, and dozens of photographs showed burns on her back and breasts from irons and frying pans. She also had scars on her wrists and ankles.

The complaint also said Stephanie Lizon had delivered a fully developed, stillborn child while in shackles, and that her husband buried the corpse on their farm.