A district court judge has approved a gag order preventing prosecutors and law enforcement from talking to the media about the Evergreen murder case.
Public defenders Vicki Frazier and Greg Rapkoch filed the motion to restrain council and other parties from making extra-judicial statements on Feb. 20, two days after Brandon Lee Walter Newberry was arrested and charged with deliberate homicide in the death of 2-year-old Forrest Groshelle.
On Feb. 23, Judge Ted Lympus granted the order, writing “that except for statements that are necessary to inform the public of the nature and extent of the prosecutor’s action and that serve a legitimate law enforcement purpose, the State shall refrain from making extrajudicial comments.”
According to court documents, the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office received a call about an unresponsive child on Feb. 17. During the call, Newberry could be heard screaming in the background, “it’s my fault, it’s my fault.”
When police arrived, they found bruising, scratching and abrasions on Groshelle’s body. An autopsy revealed that the child had been hit multiple times in the abdomen, causing perienteritis, a laceration of the small intestine.
In an interview with sheriff’s deputies, the mother, Takara Juntunen, revealed that Newberry had been watching Groshelle on a daily basis while she was at work. Juntunen also said that her son had been vomiting since Feb. 12, suggesting that the assault may have occurred between Feb. 11 and 17, according to police. During an interview with police, Newberry admitted that he had been “roughhousing” with the child the previous day.
Newberry is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 26. If convicted, Newberry could face up to 100 years in prison.