Jury selection starts in murder trial
It’s been almost two years since a Columbia Falls mother was killed, along with her 13-year-old son, in a March 19, 2009, car crash that led to the arrest and prosecution of an Evergreen girl.
Justine Winter, 17, will go to trial on two charges of deliberate homicide beginning Monday in Flathead County District Court.
Prosecutors and Winter’s defense attorneys will begin what is expected to be a two-week trial with jury selection.
Typically between 65 and 85 potential jurors are called for an average criminal trial. However, District Court officials say 100 people have been ordered to attend the first day of jury selection for Winter’s case in an effort to ensure an objective and unbiased pool of candidates.
Another 75 people have been called to the Flathead County Justice Center Tuesday in the case that the first batch of potential jurors does not result in a complete 12-member jury with two alternates.
The trial for the highly publicized case has twice been delayed as attorneys on both sides have maneuvered for what is expected to be a contentious trial.
Among the unsuccessful requests by Winter’s attorney David Stufft have been efforts to relocate the trial to juvenile court, move the trial out of Flathead County and disqualify District Judge Katherine Curtis because of a perceived bias.
The latter request was denied by the Montana Supreme Court earlier this month.
Stufft centered his argument for a change in venue on media coverage and the opinions of commenters on the Daily Inter Lake’s website. Several commenters were subpoenaed to testify, as were Inter Lake Publisher Rick Weaver and Managing Editor Frank Miele.
Curtis maintained in an order that an objective jury could be seated.
“I will do a significant amount of (questioning) myself, particularly with regard to prior knowledge and or exposure to publicity about this case,” Curtis said at a pretrial hearing Wednesday.
Potential jurors will face questioning from Winter’s defense attorneys and Flathead County Attorney’s Office prosecutors beginning at 9 a.m. Monday.
People selected will be tasked with determining whether Winter intentionally crashed her Pontiac Grand Am into a Subaru Forester driven by 35-year-old Erin Thompson in a construction zone on U.S. 93 North near Church Drive. The crash killed Thompson, who was pregnant, and her son Caden Vincent Odell.
Winter suffered severe injuries during the crash and has said she has no memory of the moments leading up to the collision.
In making their case, prosecutors have pointed to a series of text messages Winter exchanged with her then-boyfriend in the hours before her vehicle careened into Thompson’s at a high rate of speed.
Data recorded by Winter's car indicates that Winter was not wearing a seat belt, was at 95 percent of full throttle, and was traveling at 86 mph three to five seconds before impact and 85 mph at impact, according to court documents.
Charging documents also allege she threatened to kill herself by crashing her vehicle in the hour before colliding with Thompson’s vehicle.
According to court documents, some of the text messages read “Good bye ... My last words ....”
Both defense attorneys and prosecutors have retained linguistic experts to analyze the messages. Those experts will be joined by law enforcement officials, psychologists, a collision reconstructionist, character witnesses and dozens of others subpoenaed to testify.
If convicted, Winter, who is being tried as an adult, faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Winter also has sued Thompson’s estate and the construction company that built the U.S. 93 overpass at Church Drive where the accident occurred. That lawsuit isn’t expected to move forward until after the criminal case is resolved.