MISSOULA – A federal judge on Friday denied a man’s bid to have his triple-murder case thrown out on the grounds of government misconduct.
Attorneys for one of the defendants, 33-year-old Brian Weber, asked U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy to dismiss murder charges and other counts. Murder charges have already been dropped against a second suspect, 35-year-old Lincoln Benavides, of Boise, Idaho. In exchange, he pleaded guilty last month to two drug charges and prosecutors will recommend a 30-year sentence.
Weber is charged in the November 2001 slayings of Brenda Patch, Cynthia Paulus and Dorothy Harris, who were found in a hair salon with their throats slit. Authorities have said the men were involved in a western Montana drug ring but have not said why the women were killed.
During a motions hearing in Missoula on Thursday, Weber’s attorney said the case had been tainted by “outrageous” government misconduct that occurred during grand jury proceedings and throughout the investigation.
Defense attorney Al Avignone said the government presented false testimony to the grand jury and cultivated jailhouse informants who expected favorable treatment in exchange for their cooperation. He added that evidence showing the informants expected such treatment was concealed from the grand jury, violating his client’s right to due process.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thaggard acknowledged during the hearing that the government made mistakes, but he said they were not intentional and the evidence was not omitted on purpose.
Thaggard, the lead prosecutor in the case, told Molloy he resubmitted the evidence to a grand jury in June to “cure the problems.”
“All I can tell you is that I have done my best to correct this,” he said.
Molloy said he was troubled by many of the issues raised by defense attorneys, but he agreed Friday that the grand jury’s superseding indictment released in June probably fixed the problems to the point that it satisfies the law.
“This thing has taken us in a direction that is problematic,” the judge said. “The last trip to the grand jury may have resolved the due process issues, though.”
Weber is scheduled to go to trial March 1.