PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) -
New documents were released Tuesday in the civil lawsuit against Terri Horman, the stepmother of missing boy Kyron Horman.
Though a judge called Terri Horman a "prime suspect" when describing the case in the court documents, Multnomah County sheriff's deputies said the civil case is "independent of the active, ongoing criminal investigation" and that there is no new information to release about possible suspects in the Kyron Horman investigation.
PDF: Read judge's opinion in court document
In June, Desiree Young filed a $10 million lawsuit against Terri Horman in which she accused the stepmother of taking or hurting the boy. Terri Horman's lawyers tried to delay the suit two years, but that motion was denied by a judge last week.
Judge Henry Kantor said prosecutors are free to call others in for deposition, but they're are not allowed to bring Terri Horman in for discovery. Horman can also put off handing over any documents.
Attorney John Henry Hingson III said Kantor calling Horman a suspect won't have much effect on the criminal investigation, but it does affect the civil case.
"The judge was just telling it like it is. I mean, you'd have to be hanging out with that new robot on Mars not to figure out she's a prime suspect. He just told the truth," he said.
The judge wrote he does not have a time frame in mind for delaying the questioning of Terri Horman.
"I would say the date that she may be deposed before any criminal proceedings are concluded are on the 12th of never," Hingson said. "The general rule is it's a question by question basis, and if you're the prime suspect, that's just right next door to being indicted. From a practical matter, I can't imagine any judge that's going to allow them to walk down any path, for any distance, in asking this woman any questions under oath."
Kyron Horman has been missing since June 4, 2010, when he was seen at a morning science fair at Skyline Elementary School. Investigators said he was last seen by Terri Horman.
Search teams scoured the areas between his home and school for days after his disappearance. They later made numerous trips to Sauvie Island to search the murky waters and looked for evidence in other parts of rural northwest Portland, but no sign of the missing boy was ever found.
Terri Horman has never been indicted in the boy's disappearance.
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