Judge: Dasen trial will be held here

For the second time, District Judge Stewart Stadler has ordered the prostitution trial of Dick Dasen Sr. to remain in Flathead County.

Monday morning, Stadler re-affirmed his earlier ruling that Dasen would be tried by Flathead County jurors. In December, Stadler denied a number of motions.

Since then, Dasen's attorney, George Best, commissioned a telephone survey that allegedly found the valley's potential jury pool had been poisoned by pre-trial publicity.

Best had hired E.B. Eiselein to conduct the survey of 408 randomly selected registered votes from Feb. 21-23. Eiselein concluded that 82 percent of registered voters in Flathead County "have been following the charges against Dick Dasen Sr. in the local media." About 82 percent have a presumption of innocence or guilt regarding the charges; about 79 percent feel he is guilty and about 3 percent feel he is not.

Stadler said Monday that the survey does not answer a pertinent question: Whether those people questioned could put aside their opinions if they were chosen for the jury.

Most importantly, though, the numbers make a fair jury feasible, Stadler said.

Even if 80 percent of potential jurors are unshakeable in their belief of Dasen's guilt, that leaves 20 percent who could make impartial jurors.

The court plans to call 450 prospective jurors. That would produce about 90 who could serve on the jury, Stadler said, giving both prosecutors and the defense a sizable panel from which to choose 12 jurors.

Stadler will provide a written rationale for his ruling later.

He has also taken under advisement other requests that Best made earlier this month.

Best has asked to have the charges against Dasen dismissed for lack of speedy trial.

The trial has been postponed twice. Stadler most recently agreed to Best's request to postpone a January trial date. Best argues that evidence has continued to come in to him from prosecutors, causing delays while he researches witnesses and other information.

The original charges against Dasen have been amended three times with additional charges. He was arrested in February 2004 on a charge of prostitution. Now, he is charged with 10 counts of prostitution and one count each of sexual intercourse without consent, promotion of prostitution, aggravated promotion of prostitution, and sexual abuse of children. Police say he spent millions of dollars on sex with a multitude of women and girls over the past 20 years.

In other motions that Stadler is considering, Best requested that charges be dropped against Dasen because information Best requested from prosecutors was allegedly not provided. State law allows a mistrial if that happens.

Dasen is prosecuted by Deputy County Attorneys Dan Guzynski and Lori Adams.

The case is scheduled to go to trial on April 25 and is expected to last six weeks.