Subpoenas pile up in bid to move teenager's trial
Attorneys for Justine Winter have subpoenaed the Daily Inter Lake editor, publisher and several online commenters in an ongoing effort to move her trial out of Northwest Montana.
Court filings on behalf of the 17-year-old Evergreen resident attempt to show that opinions posted by readers of the Inter Lake show that a jury composed of Flathead County residents could not be fair.
The filings include news stories, letters to the editor and hundreds of pages of reader comments posted on the Inter Lake’s website. Some of the online comments called for the death penalty and other forms of punishment.
Winter is being tried as an adult in District Court on two counts of deliberate homicide connected to a March 2009 crash on U.S. 93. Prosecutors allege that Winter intentionally crossed the centerline in a construction zone in an attempt to commit suicide. The crash killed 35-year-old Columbia Falls woman Erin Thompson and her 13-year-old son. Thompson was pregnant at the time.
Winter’s attorney David Stufft requested a change in venue Aug. 17. The request cited testimony from Winter’s father who said his daughter has been the target of threats and harassment due to “hatred and bias” in the Flathead Valley.
District Judge Katherine Curtis will hold a hearing on Wednesday, Sept. 15, for arguments related to a potential change in venue.
The Flathead County Attorney’s Office opposes the move, accusing Winter of stoking the inflammatory opinions by filing a civil lawsuit against Thompson’s estate. The lawsuit includes accusations that Thompson crossed the centerline and that the highway was not properly marked.
Stufft indicated in court documents that additional subpoenas will be filed in the criminal case.
Thus far, the defense is demanding the presence in court of Inter Lake Publisher Rick Weaver, Managing Editor Frank Miele, a letter writer and at least seven people who posted comments on the newspaper’s website.
The names of the commenters were obtained through a prior subpoena in which Winter’s attorneys acquired Internet provider addresses and website registration information.
Stufft did not respond to a request from the Inter Lake to comment on the filings.
Judge Curtis issued an order asking that Winter or her attorneys explain what testimony they hope to yield from newspaper managers and online commenters.
Stufft responded with another filing Thursday.
He wrote that Winter’s constitutional rights would be violated if witnesses were provided an opportunity to know the line of questioning beforehand.
“The court should not become a ‘fast food’ dispersal of justice,” he wrote. “Especially when one’s life liberties are at stake.”
Another issue set for argument at the Sept. 15 hearing is Stufft’s claim that the two vehicles involved in the fatal March 19, 2009, crash have been vandalized.
In a separate motion filed Sept. 7, he wrote that the vehicles — Thompson’s Subaru Forester and Winter’s Pontiac Grand Am — were left unsecured in a county maintenance yard.
Stufft said the vehicles were damaged, exhibiting a failure to maintain proper chain of custody and rendering the evidence void.
Several other motions have yet to be ruled on, including a proposed gag order that would prevent the prosecutor’s office from speaking with media.
The trial is scheduled to begin with jury selection Nov. 8.
Reporter Eric Schwartz may be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at eschwartz@dailyinterlake.com.