Prosecutor: Charge had to be dropped

Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan said Tuesday that a murder-for-hire charge against a Kalispell man was dismissed because of insurmountable “evidentiary issues.”

The charge of felony solicitation of deliberate homicide against Matthew Heuer, 38, was dropped Monday morning at the request of Corrigan’s office.

Heuer had been accused of asking his jail cellmate to kill his ex-wife, Tarsha, and her crime victim advocate, Janiece Hamilton.

Corrigan said a key factor in the dismissal was that a recording of the conversation between Matthew Heuer and his cellmate, Noah Powell, was indecipherable — even after the FBI enhanced the audio.

Two officers at the Flathead County Detention Center had overheard parts of the conversation but did not specifically hear Heuer say that he wanted his wife to be killed.

The other main reason for dropping the charge, Corrigan said, was that District Judge Heidi Ulbricht would not allow into evidence prior offenses committed by Matthew Heuer.

“For various reasons, the court concluded that we could not bring into trial any evidence of prior conflicts, threats, alleged assaults ... that sort of thing, that occurred between the suspect and the victim,” Corrigan said. “What’s important about that is, in a case of this sort, is that what you want to show the jury is that this last charge is part of an escalating course of behavior by the defendant.”

According to Corrigan, “After not being allowed to do that, because of that order — and I’m not faulting the judge for that — we were operating in a vacuum.

“We were going to have to tell the jury that this guy is trying to get someone to kill his wife without explaining any of the history or surrounding circumstances.

“It’s just basically two guys in jail, talking to each other. I expected Heuer to testify that he may have said some of those things, but he never meant it. There’s no way to refute that.”

Heuer was in jail after being convicted of felony criminal endangerment for shooting a handgun at his neighbor following an argument in February. He was awaiting release to the state’s Intensive Supervision Program, where he would serve his five-year sentence wearing an ankle bracelet, when he allegedly asked Powell to kill the two women in exchange for a Toyota pickup truck and some cash.

During the two weeks prior to Monday’s scheduled trial start, Deputy County Attorney Kenneth Park submitted two motions to the court asking for more time to get prepared for the trial. Both were denied.

“Over the weekend, while I was getting ready to help Ken with the trial and going over the file, I came to the conclusion that dismissing the case because of evidentiary issues was the appropriate course to take,” Corrigan said.

Late Monday afternoon, Tarsha Heuer was granted an order of protection for herself and her four children, two of whom are Matthew’s. Her crime victim advocate and family members still say she fears for her life.

Hamilton said she was disappointed the charge was dismissed.

“I was not as concerned for myself as I was for Tarsha,” Hamilton said. “My main feeling was disappointment, because I am really concerned about her.

“The way that I understand it is that the quality of the tape was not decipherable. And the character of the people that were involved in making the report….in other words the guys that were kind of telling on him….they were not of great character. It appeared they wanted some better treatment in exchange for their cooperation. And when the prior bad acts were not allowed in the trial, that was important because I think you could have shown that [Matthew Heuer] has been kind of building to something like this.”

Hamilton had previously worked with both Matthew and Tarsha Heuer.

Corrigan emphasized that the decision to drop the charge had nothing to do with the investigation by the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office.

“They did a very fine job,” Corrigan said. “They were surprised by the decision, and somewhat dismayed, until I explained our rationale. At least I hope they understand it.

“When you look at all of these circumstances, we concluded that we just didn’t have something we could present to the jury with the hopes of getting a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt. This was based on the evidence we could not get in.”

Judge Ulbricht issued a brief statement: “The court was prepared to preside over a jury trial beginning on July 14, 2014. The state motioned for a dismissal of the case and I signed the order dismissing the case with prejudice. I have no other comments in regards to the Heuer case.”

Matthew Heuer is now under the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections and will be transferred to the Missoula Assessment and Sanctions Center for an assessment, according to his lawyer’s office.

Reporter Brittany Brevik can be reached by email at bbrevik@dailyinterlake.com or by calling (406) 758-4459.