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Gibbs lawyer says jurors should have heard tape |
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Tuesday, 18 November 2008 |
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - Jurors who convicted Moe Gibbs of murdering a Valley City State University student should have been allowed to watch part of a videotape of his police interrogation, his attorney told the North Dakota Supreme Court.
Although jurors heard testimony during Gibbs' trial about what was said during the interview, watching the tape would have given them a more complete picture, Bismarck attorney Kent Morrow said during arguments Monday.
Morrow is asking the Supreme Court to grant Gibbs another trial. The court will issue its ruling later.
Gibbs' defense lawyers, Jeff Bredahl and Dennis Fisher, wanted to use the tape to challenge Valley City police detective Mark McDonald's descriptions of what was said during the interview, Morrow said.
The tape also would have given jurors a chance to evaluate Gibbs' own statements and demeanor, Morrow said.
"They wanted to have Mr. Gibbs be heard protesting his innocence, which he did repeatedly throughout the interview," Morrow said.
One of Gibbs' prosecutors, Brad Cruff, the Barnes County state's attorney, said jurors got plenty of information about the interview from testimony in the case. Playing the videotape was unnecessary and would have allowed jurors to hear Gibbs during the trial without having his statements questioned, Cruff said.
"They want their client, Gibbs, to testify, and us to not be able to challenge anything," Cruff said. At his trials, Gibbs did not testify in his own defense.
Gibbs was convicted last November of murder in the September 2006 death of Mindy Morgenstern, a 22-year-old Valley City State student who was strangled and stabbed in her off-campus apartment.
It was Gibbs' second trial. The first, held in Minot, ended in July 2007, when jurors deadlocked on a verdict. In the second trial, jurors deliberated more than 27 hours before convicting Gibbs of murder. He is serving a life prison term without the possibility of parole.
During Gibbs' first trial, jurors were shown a videotape of Gibbs' interrogation, which had been edited to remove references to Gibbs as a suspect in other crimes. Gibbs' attorneys and prosecutors both agreed to the arrangement.
Prosecutors objected to allowing the tape to be shown at Gibbs' second trial. During his Supreme Court arguments, Cruff said members of the Minot jury told prosecutors the tape had hurt their case.
"Everything (Gibbs) says in that eight minutes ... we're stuck with, and that's what we felt burned us in Minot," Cruff said. "We weren't going to go down that road again."
Justice Carol Ronning Kapsner wondered whether the video should have been allowed.
"We're talking about a particular witness (McDonald) who is making statements about this particular defendant (Gibbs) and the defendant is saying, 'Look, see it in context.' What's wrong with that?" Kapsner asked.
Morrow and Cruff also argued about whether Gibbs' defense team was given enough money to hire experts to dispute prosecution witnesses' conclusions about DNA evidence that was used to convict Gibbs. Gibbs' DNA was found on fingernail clippings taken from Morgenstern's left hand.
Gibbs hired Bredahl and Fisher to defend him during his first trial. The two Fargo attorneys were appointed as public defenders to represent Gibbs in his second trial.
Cruff said although Gibbs' lawyers suggested they needed additional experts, they never made a formal request to Southeast District Judge John Paulson, who presided over both trials.
"There were some ruminations" by defense lawyers about needing more money to hire expert witnesses, Cruff said. "It was not a formal request. It was just kind of thrown out there, and for what it's worth, if they expected Judge Paulson to grab that and run with it, obviously that never happened."
Morgenstern's parents, Larry and Eunice Morgenstern, of New Salem, attended the arguments Monday. They said they were optimistic that Gibbs' murder conviction would be affirmed.
"Hopefully, they will come up with a good verdict, and we won't have another trial again," Larry Morgenstern said.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 21 November 2008 )
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