Murder trial delayed
An Evergreen teenager’s trial on two felony counts of deliberate homicide has been postponed.
Initially planned for Sept. 27, a trial for Justine Winter now is scheduled to begin Nov. 8.
It is expected to take up to nine days as jurors determine whether or not Winter is guilty of killing a pregnant Columbia Falls woman and her teenage son during a crash on U.S. 93 North in March 2009.
Prosecutors accuse Winter, 17, of intentionally crossing the centerline while speeding through a construction zone in an attempt to commit suicide. The collision resulted in the death of 35-year-old Erin Julie Thompson and her 13-year-old son, Caden Vincent Odell.
Winter had been engaged in a text message conversation with her boyfriend in
which she allegedly made references to suicide and crashing her car, according to court documents.
She pleaded innocent after District Judge Katherine Curtis ruled in August that she would be tried as an adult. If convicted, Winters would face potential sentences of 10 to 100 years on each count.
The trial delay comes after court officials determined more time was needed to provide for a long proceeding with dozens of witnesses and a large assortment of evidence and exhibits.
The Flathead County Attorney’s Office and Winter’s attorneys each have filed multiple motions. Defense attorney David Stufft is asking that Winter’s trial be moved out of Northwest Montana and that a gag order be imposed on the County Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors have requested that testimony from a linguist — who said at a previous hearing that Winter’s text messages weren’t necessarily suicidal — be excluded from the trial.
Curtis is expected to rule on all unresolved issues by Nov. 8.
She also is presiding over a civil lawsuit filed by Winter against Thompson’s estate and the contractors and construction company in charge of roadwork where the crash occurred between Kalispell and Whitefish.
Winter accuses Thompson of crossing the center line and blames contractors for failing to properly mark the area. She allegedly was traveling faster than 80 miles per hour when the collision occurred, according to the investigation by the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office.
Winter’s attorney’s have removed Knife River Corporation from the lawsuit, according to an Aug. 31 filing. The company has been replaced as a defendant by JTL Group Inc., a subsidiary of Knife River that had contracts with the Montana Department of Transportation.
The defendants in the civil suit now include Thompson’s estate, Western Traffic Control Inc., Mountain West Holding Company and JTL Group.
Reporter Eric Schwartz may be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at eschwartz@dailyinterlake.com.