Convicted kidnapper is back for a new trial

The Daily Inter Lake

The last time District Judge Ted Lympus saw Joseph Aceto, it was to sentence him to 210 years in prison.

On Thursday, Aceto was back in court, taking the first steps toward a new trial for aggravated kidnapping and two counts of attempted homicide.

The Montana Supreme Court ordered a new trial for Aceto, saying his constitutional right to participate in his defense was violated when a jury found him guilty in 2002.

The judge advised Aceto on Thursday that he can disqualify Lympus and ask for a new judge. He also appointed public defender Glen Neier to represent Aceto. County Attorney Ed Corrigan will prosecute.

During his first trial, Aceto represented himself with the aid of public defender Mark Sullivan.

Lympus had Aceto removed from the court after Aceto's outburst while he questioned his victim and former girlfriend, Eileen Holmquist. After that disturbance, Sullivan took over Aceto's defense, while Aceto watched the proceedings on a TV monitor in his jail cell.

Holmquist was testifying about how Aceto shot at her and her boyfriend at a Columbia Falls art gallery, and then took her hostage in the North Fork. The county SWAT team was called to the woods to rescue her, but Aceto released her on his own.

After the jury trial, Aceto went to Montana State Prison and Holmquist killed herself.

No date has been set for the new trial.

Aceto is being held in the county jail on $1 million bond.