June 20, 2007

ID: murder retrial "will not sit well with our budget"

From the Rexburg Standard Journal:

New lawyers OK'd for Grube defense - Fremont County may sell property to pay for the retrial costs

A man the state continues to accuse of killing Amy Hossner in Ashton in 1983 will get the services of two lawyers in a retrial this year. In a hearing Thursday in Fremont County, District Court Judge Darren Simpson approved motions to allow Rauland Grube the services of two lawyers, Greg Moeller of Rexburg and Dennis Benjamin of Boise.

Moeller was Grube's lawyer in his first trial. Benjamin was Grube's federally appointed public defender for hearings in the federal courts, where Grube was found to have had his civil rights violated, a ruling that is prompting the retrial...


From the AP wire:

Ballistics evidence was a key element in Grube's original conviction, but it has since been disavowed by the FBI. And former Police Chief Ed Sebek, who could testify about the log alterations, is now in prison on an unrelated crime.

The state attorney general's office has insisted on retrying Grube, even though it was rebuked by another federal court judge earlier this year who said Grube would likely be acquitted if he were to be retried.

In January, Alex Kozinski... on a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals... said Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden should consider prosecuting those in the case who handed in tainted evidence "instead of holding onto a conviction that is incredibly thin on the facts and undermined by just unspeakable misconduct..."


Personal aside: go Dennis!

Update: more from KPVI:

Greg Moeller, Grube's Attorney: "There's probably about 10,000 questions that have to be made over the next 90 days and right now we're only on about number one or number two."

1 Comment:

Anonymous said...

The state will pay for it. Also, it's not AG Wasden's decision to prosecute -- in Idaho the prosecutor has sole responsibility for law enforcement but can ask for assistance from the AG if need be.