Man charged with felony sex crimes in June, hasn’t been arraigned yet
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REXBURG – A local man charged with multiple sex crimes with a child under 16 has not yet faced a judge to plead guilty or not guilty, despite multiple scheduled court hearings.
An arrest warrant was issued for Garon Miskin on June 1. He was charged with two counts of lewd conduct with a child under 16 and one count of sexual abuse of a minor under 16. Since his arrest, the dates of his preliminary hearing and arraignment has been pushed back multiple times.
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On the day of Miskin’s preliminary hearing, June 15, his defense filed a motion to disqualify the trial judge without cause. Meaning, the case had to be transferred to a new judge and a new date was set for the preliminary hearing.
The hearing was rescheduled for July 12. On the day of the hearing Madison County Prosecutor Sid Brown, requested a special prosecutor, citing a conflict of interest between Miskin and the Madison County Prosecutor’s office.
Troy Evans, a civil deputy in the Madison County Prosecutor’s office gave minimal assistance to Miskin in the sentencing of an unlawful entry and battery case roughly seven to eight years prior to the charges of sex crimes.
“It wasn’t a conflict that would have prejudiced Mr. Miskin at all,” Madison County deputy prosecutor Rob Wood told EastIdahoNews.com. “We talked to the Attorney General’s office and we talked to the bar ethics office; they both said ‘yeah, you’re right. It wouldn’t prejudice him but just be on the safe side and hand it off to a special prosecution.'”
The prosecution of the case was transferred to Bonneville County, again, resetting the date of the preliminary hearing. The hearing was supposed to take place Aug. 8.
Just 10 days before the day of the hearing, Miskin’s defense again motioned to disqualify the judge without cause. This required the preliminary hearing to be rescheduled again.
It was finally held on Aug. 28, and the date of his arraignment was set for Monday, Sept. 11. But Miskin didn’t show up.
John Dewey, the Bonneville County prosecutor assigned to the case, told EastIdahoNews.com there were two reasons Miskin was not arraigned on Monday. Notice of the arraignment hearing was never sent to Miskin and a new judge has yet to be assigned to the case.
A new arraignment date will be set when a new judge is assigned to the case.