By Dave Thompson
Bismarck, ND – The attorney for convicted murderer Moe Gibbs says his client did NOT get a fair trial.
Kent Morrow told the North Dakota Supreme Court he has several reasons.
Gibbs was convicted of murdering Valley City State College student Mindy Morgenstern in her Valley City apartment. The first trial -- held in Minot -- resulted in a hung jury. A second trial -- held in Bismarck -- resulted in a conviction.
Morrow was not the attorney who argued the case. But he told the high court one of the reasons Gibbs did not get a fair trial was because Judge John Paulson refused to allow a videotape of Gibbs being interviewed about the crime to be shown in court in its entirety.
"Whether his statements in the interview made sense, whether they were contradicted by the evidence, whether the statements made by the detective were accurate, and, in essence, they wanted to have Mr. Gibbs be heard protesting his innocence," said Morrow.
That videotape was shown during the trial in Minot.
Barnes County States' Attorney Brad Cruff argued that this would allow Gibbs to testify without being cross-examined.
"We're not going to be able to call Mr. Gibbs, so everything he says,we're stuck with," Cruff told the Court. "That's what we felt burned us in Minot, and we weren't going to go down that road again."
Morrow also argued the defense did not have enough money to hire a certain expert witness. But Cruff said the defense didn't bring that up at trial.
The high court will rule later.