Teen to be tried as adult

An Evergreen teen will be tried as an adult on two counts of deliberate homicide.

District Judge Katherine Curtis issued an order to that effect on Thursday and set a trial date of Sept. 27 for 17-year-old Justine Winter.

Winter is accused of driving her car into oncoming traffic in March 2009 in an alleged suicide attempt. The crash killed a pregnant woman and her son.

Curtis made the ruling based on a weeklong preliminary trial late in June that was held to determine whether Winter would be tried in adult or youth court.

Curtis’ order means that Winter, if convicted, would face possible sentences of 10 years to life in prison compared to the 3 1/2 to 7 1/2 years she would have faced for the two felony charges in youth court.

“If [Winter] is convicted of deliberate homicide, this community and the families of the victims expect a sentence to be imposed which reflects the seriousness of those offenses and the degree of harm caused by her actions,” Curtis wrote in her ruling.

Winter, then a 16-year-old student at Glacier High School, was southbound on U.S. 93 between Kalispell and Whitefish at about 8:30 p.m. on March 19, 2009, when the collision occurred.

Her Pontiac Grand Am crossed the center line at a speed of 85 miles per hour and collided head-on with a Subaru Forester driven by Columbia Falls woman Erin Julie Thompson, according to court documents.

Thompson, 35 at the time, died along with her 13-year-old son, Caden Vincent Odell. Thompson also was four months pregnant. The investigation revealed that Thompson was traveling about 30 miles per hour in a 55 mph zone when her vehicle was struck, according to court documents.

Winter allegedly had been arguing with her boyfriend and had engaged in a text-message conversation during which she made references to killing herself. The Flathead County Attorney’s Office is alleging that she drove into oncoming traffic intentionally.

That assertion is supported by Flathead County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ernie Freebury, who served as coroner following the collision. He testified at the preliminary trial that it’s reasonable to conclude the crash was intentional based on inspection of the speedometer and the fact that the vehicle’s brakes weren’t applied until one second before deployment of the air bags.

Flathead County Attorney Office Administrator Vickie Eggum said prosecutors are pleased with Curtis’ decision to keep the trial in District Court.

“We believe the court carefully considered all elements of the case,” Eggum said. “The order was very well written and came to the right decision.”

Curtis issued the order after requests by Winter’s defense attorneys to transfer the hearing to Youth Court based on Winter’s age and the “massive, traumatic” brain injury they said she sustained during the collision.

The 22-page ruling addressed concerns that Winter could not be adequately treated or reintroduced to society if she were sentenced to incarceration at a Montana Department of Corrections facility.

“This court refuses to accept that the adult correctional system in Montana cannot provide medically appropriate and necessary services for a brain-injured person,” Curtis wrote, citing expert testimony from the preliminary hearing.

Though the ruling means Winter will face a trial in District Court, it also noted that a conviction would be followed by a pre-sentencing investigation that would take into account her age and medical condition.

Again citing testimony, Curtis wrote, “long-term supervision of the defendant may be much more important for the supervision of the defendant and community safety than a long period of incarceration.”

Curtis also denied a defense motion to prohibit the prosecution and witnesses from referring to Thompson and Odell as “victims,” to the location of the collision as a “crime scene” and to the incident as a “homicide.” Those terms will be allowed at the trial.

In a separate but related matter, Winter on July 15 filed a civil lawsuit against Thompson’s estate, Knife River Corp., Western Traffic Control Inc. and Mountain West Holding Co.

The lawsuit in District Court claims that Thompson negligently operated her vehicle and caused the accident.

It also claims the contractors in charge of construction in the vicinity of the Church Drive overpass bridge failed to adequately build and maintain traffic-control devices and signals, including lighting, lane lines and reflective markings.

Thus far, neither the contractors nor Thompson’s estate have responded to the claims made by Winter, according to court records.

Curtis is presiding over both the civil lawsuit and criminal case.

Reporter Eric Schwartz may be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at eschwartz@dailyinterlake.com