Prosecutors oppose request for new Winter trial

The Flathead County Attorney’s Office is opposing a request for the dismissal of charges for a new trial for Justine Winter, who was convicted in February on two counts of deliberate homicide for a 2009 car crash that killed a Columbia Falls woman and her son.

Deputy County Attorney Lori Adams filed a 15-page response Friday in District Court after Winter’s attorney David Stufft alleged that irregularities during the trial mean the Evergreen teen’s conviction should be thrown out.

 Stufft listed a total of 17 reasons in support of his motion, among them that witnesses were improperly questioned, that prosecutors changed their theory of how the crash occurred during the trial and that the defense was barred from pursuing crucial lines of questioning.

The Kalispell attorney also accused Judge Katherine Curtis of being biased toward the defense and claimed that a new eyewitness to the March 19, 2009, crash has come forward and that a juror had improper contact with a member of the victims’ family during the trial.

Winter, 18, was convicted Feb. 3 after prosecutors argued during a nine-day trial that she intentionally crossed the center of U.S. 93 and collided with a vehicle driven by 35-year-old Erin Thompson after threatening to crash her car as a means of committing suicide following an argument with her former boyfriend.

Thompson, who was pregnant, died along with her 13-year-old son Caden Vincent Odell.

Adams categorically denied each of Stufft’s claims in her filing. She wrote that Curtis was fair during the trial.

“The court acted professionally towards both the state and the defendant during the trial,” Adams wrote. “The court overruled and sustained objections on both sides. In addition, the court excluded a state expert from testifying. The court acted as a neutral party during the trial.”

As for Stufft’s assertion that the jury should have been informed of the maximum penalty for deliberate homicide — 100 years or life imprisonment — Adams replied that state law does not allow a defendant to inform juries of penalties.

“(Winter) was given the opportunity to inquire of potential jurors as to whether they knew the penalty for deliberate homicide and, if so, if they believed the penalty was too severe,” she wrote.

Adams also reiterated that while prosecutors argued Winter’s actions were equal to a suicide attempt, they added to their theory via a filing Nov. 23, 2010, that whether or not experts believed text messages were equal to a suicide note, prosecutors would argue they represented a valid threat.

She also replied to Stufft’s claim of juror misconduct. Winter’s attorney’s have subpoenaed the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office for all video recordings at the Flathead County Justice Center in an apparent attempt to confirm their claims.

“The defendant claims juror misconduct without a scintilla of evidence,” Adams wrote. “The defendant makes a blanket statement that a juror had contact with a member of the Thompson/Johnson family. The defendant’s claims are speculative and to date she has not stated why she believes this to be the case.”

Stufft also claimed that a new eyewitness to the crash has come forward. Stufft wrote in a supplement to his request that a man interviewed after he commented on an Internet blog discredits claims made by Richard Poeppel, who testified during the trial that he saw Winter’s Pontiac Grand Am cross the centerline and collide with Thompson’s vehicle.

Adams said that the man, Dan Decoite, did not provide any information that would impeach Poeppel’s testimony during an interview with Winter’s defense attorney. Decoite left the scene without providing his information to Montana Highway Patrol troopers, she wrote, and confirmed in an interview that Poeppel was at the scene.

“Mr. Decoite cannot refute anything that Mr. Poeppel saw prior to the accident,” Adams wrote. “Mr. Decoite’s statement does not establish evidence so material that if he were to testify a different result would occur.”

Curtis has scheduled a hearing for April 6 during which defense attorneys and prosecutors will be allowed to debate the issue. Montana law allows Curtis to deny the request, render the convictions void or call for a new trial if it is “in the interest of justice.”

Winter still is scheduled to be sentenced April 12 and faces between 10 and 100 years in prison for each conviction. She’s being held in the Flathead Adult Detention Center.

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