The trial of Anthony Roy St. Dennis, originally scheduled to begin Friday in Great Falls, is now slated to take place on Jan. 5, 2009, at the Hill County Courthouse in Havre.
In August, Missoula District Judge John Larson ruled that St. Dennis, 18, and a 20-year-old co-defendant, Dustin Strahan, could not receive fair trials in Missoula and must face a jury of their peers elsewhere.
Earlier this month, public defenders Chris Daly and Paulette Ferguson notified the court that an expert defense witness would not be available to testify by Friday's trial date, and asked to have the trial continued. Missoula County Attorney Fred Van Valkenburg, the lead prosecutor in both cases, did not object.
St. Dennis, a senior at Hellgate High School at the time of his arrest last December, has pleaded not guilty to charges of deliberate homicide. Strahan also is charged with deliberate homicide and has pleaded not guilty. Strahan's case is slated for trial Nov. 17 in Helena, and will go forward as scheduled.
Daly and Ferguson recently took issue with Van Valkenburg's disclosure of an “impression analysis” conducted by evidence technicians at the Montana State Crime Lab. The analysis compares imprints preserved on Salcido's winter coat with the tread of the Converse shoes St. Dennis allegedly wore the night of the attack.
Van Valkenburg's disclosure of the evidence, the defense lawyers said, did not leave them enough time to arrange for their own expert witness before the September trial date. Van Valkenburg says he disclosed the analysis as soon as it became available.
Although Strahan will testify at St. Dennis' trial under a letter of “use immunity,” St. Dennis will likely not take the stand at Strahan's trial. “Use immunity” is granted to witnesses in criminal cases to prevent their testimony from being used against them in a criminal prosecution.
A jury panel will be chosen from a pool of 150 Havre residents before the trial, which is estimated to last between five and seven days, according to Larson's Sept. 18 scheduling order. Sheriff's deputies will drive St. Dennis to Havre on Jan. 2, and the trial will open the following Monday.
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Essie St.Dennis wrote on Sep 24, 2008 8:08 PM:
" I live in Havre and it is a raciest town but there are enough Native American's in the jury pool here he will be tried by his peers instead of a bunch of rednecks that have already found him guilty in the press and the population.Here he has a chance for the truth to come out. The press has not printed one word about him that even gives him a shadow of a chance if he were tried there. The whole story is not told yet. "
PJT wrote on Sep 24, 2008 1:21 PM: