Teen driver seeks to have trial moved
An Evergreen teen charged with two counts of felony deliberate homicide is asking for her trial to be moved out of Flathead County District Court and Northwest Montana.
An attorney for Justine Winter filed the request for a new venue in District Court Aug. 17. The court documents cite The Daily Inter Lake’s coverage of the case but focus more on the nature of reader comments on its website as the primary reason for the proposed move.
Attorney David Stufft claims the online comments show that an objective jury could not be gathered in Flathead County.
Winter, 17, is accused of driving her car into oncoming traffic in March 2009 in an alleged suicide attempt on U.S. 93 between Kalispell and Whitefish. The crash killed 35-year-old Columbia Falls resident Erin Julie Thompson and her 13-year-old son, Caden Vincent Odell. Thompson was 4 months pregnant.
Winter is being processed as an adult after a judge ruled her crimes could not be adequately tried in youth court. Her trial is set to begin Sept. 27.
The request for a new venue was filed along with dozens of pages of comments left on The Daily Inter Lake’s website where news stories had been posted.
Winter’s attorney David Stufft cited specific reader entries in the eight-page filing, including “she should swing,” “give her the needle” and “life without the possibility of parole, the death penalty! You did the crime, do the time.” He faults The Daily Inter Lake for allowing the comments to remain on its website and publishing commentary critical of Winter.
“Sadly for all concerned, the yellow journalism of The Daily Inter Lake has hurt all involved, even those that it wanted to help through its crafting of its articles and the continued dissemination of hate in its active attempt to bias the jury of a 17-year-old,” Stufft wrote.
Daily Inter Lake Publisher Rick Weaver said website comments are the personal opinions of specific readers. He said the newspaper’s coverage has been fair. The newspaper would never manipulate coverage as a means of changing the opinions of readers, he said.
“While it is true that readers on both our website and in the print edition of The Daily Inter Lake have had very strong opinions, they are the opinions of our readers and they’ve been labeled as opinion,” Weaver said. “That should never be classified as yellow journalism.”
Randy Winter, Justine’s father, supported the request for a change in trial location in a separate filing.
He wrote that his family has been harassed due to the ongoing case. About $800 in unrequested pizza orders and a shipment of moving boxes have been sent to their home, according to court documents. The teenager has also been the target of threats through a social networking website and text messages sent to her cellular phone, according to the documents.
“I voice my deepest concern and fear that Justine will not receive a fair trial in Flathead County because of the hatred and bias in our community directed to Justine and her family,” Winter wrote, according to court documents.
The possibility of the trial moving could be slight if prior cases are an indication.
Long-serving Flathead County District Court officials could not recall the last time the location of a trial was changed. The issue was raised in 2005 prior to the trial of former Kalispell businessman Richard Dasen.
Dasen’s attorneys produced poll results that purportedly showed a prevailing bias against Dasen in Northwest Montana. He was accused of multiple felony prostitution charges in a case that generated broad media coverage.
In that case, District Court Judge Stewart Stadler ruled that as long as a sufficient number of jurors were called, it was possible to get a jury pool of 15 fair and impartial people.
Stadler called a total of 450 jurors over three days. The jury delivered a conviction in September 2009, and Dasen was sentenced to two years in Montana State Prison.
Winter’s request for a new venue came among a flurry of motions filed by Winter’s attorneys in August. She is also asking to suppress all evidence collected since the night of the crash, for an extended jury selection process and the right to have more than three character witnesses at trial.
The Flathead County Attorney’s Office has until Aug. 31 to issue a response to the motions. All final decisions will be made by District Court Judge Katherine Curtis, who is presiding over the case.
If necessary, a hearing will be held Sept. 15 on the motion to change the location of the trial and to suppress evidence.
A pre-trial conference has been scheduled for Sept. 1.
Winter has filed a lawsuit against Thompson’s estate and the contractors and construction company that were working on the stretch of highway where the fatal crash occurred. She claims it was Thompson who crossed the centerline.
Reporter Eric Schwartz may be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at eschwartz@dailyinterlake.com