Barkus evidence hearing canceled
The 22-foot boat that carried Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., state Sen. Greg Barkus, R-Kalispell, and three other people rests on the rocks just south of the Wayfarer State Park pier on Friday. The boat crashed after 10 p.m. Thursday, injuring all five people aboard. Jim Mann/Daily Inter Lake
A hearing scheduled Friday on a request to suppress evidence gathered during the boat-crash investigation involving state Sen. Greg Barkus was canceled on Thursday.
Barkus was piloting the boat that crashed Aug. 27 into the east shore of Flathead Lake, injuring all five people aboard.
The Friday hearing has been vacated at the request of prosecutors, court records said. No charges have been filed yet in the case.
The investigative subpoena hearing originally was set to discuss a motion by Todd Glazier, the attorney for Barkus, to suppress evidence.
The Flathead County Attorney's Office had declined to address what evidence Barkus' attorney is seeking to bar
District Court Judge William Nels Swandal of Livingston has been enlisted to preside over any legal proceedings involving Barkus after Flathead County's three District Court judges removed themselves from the case because of their relationships with the veteran legislator
Court records and investigators' findings in the crash won't become public information until charges officially are filed - if any charges are filed - and even then only those portions of the investigative reports prosecutors decide to include in the charging documents will be available for examination.
Before removing herself from the case, Flathead District Judge Katherine R. Curtis signed an order Sept. 9 maintaining the confidentiality of Barkus' medical records unless and until charges are filed.
Prosecutors had subpoenaed lab reports and a blood sample taken from Barkus for medical reasons while he was being treated at Kalispell Regional Medical Center following the crash.
Barkus suffered a fractured pelvis from the crash, as well as a couple of fractured ribs, a possible hairline fracture in his right ankle and cuts on his legs.
Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan has said investigators believe Barkus had been drinking the night of the crash.
Forensic analysis of the blood sample was completed by an out-of-state laboratory in mid-September, according to Judy Beck, a spokeswoman for the state Attorney General's Office.
The sample was submitted to a private lab in Pennsylvania to avoid any appearance of conflict within the state crime lab in Missoula, which is run by a state representative who served with Barkus in the legislature.
Injured in the boat crash were Barkus; his wife, Kathy; U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg; and two Rehberg staffers, Dustin Frost and Kristin Smith.
Frost and Greg Barkus were the most seriously injured when the boat crashed in the night into rocks at Wayfarers State Park.
Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com