Defendant gets additional felony charge after mistrial in Teton County
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DRIGGS — Last week, Teton County hosted its first in-person jury trial after more than a year of navigating the pandemic and closed courtrooms. It resulted in District Court Judge Steven Boyce declaring a mistrial and effectively dismissing the jury halfway through the two-day event.
It was also the first trial for newly elected Teton County Prosecutor Bailey Smith. But despite the seemingly disappointing setback of having to retry a felony assault case, Smith did manage to get a new charge filed based on information revealed during the proceedings. On Tuesday, she filed a felony aggravated battery charge on top of the original felony aggravated assault.
Each charge carries up to five years in jail and a $5,000 fine.
Events leading to the mistrial
The case centers around Victor resident Laurance Harris, 57. In 2019, Harris was accused of threatening a tenant with a hatchet during an argument at one of Harris’s rental properties. He also allegedly damaged the victim’s camper with a sledgehammer. The case moved through the court system as Harris was formally charged with felony aggravated assault. He pleaded not guilty and retained attorney Chris Lundberg as his defense counsel. Lundberg, a former deputy prosecutor in Teton County, had previously prosecuted Harris in 2008 for domestic assault, for which Harris was found guilty.
Smith inherited the case from former prosecutor Billie Siddoway and deputy prosecutor Richard Friess. As the jury trial commenced last week, the victim asserted he was injured from the events that led to Harris’ arrest and was medically treated for broken ribs.
Lundberg then pumped the brakes and asked the judge for a sidebar. He argued that the prosecutor’s office had not released medical records from this injury even though the defense had asked for all available documents.
Smith contended that this was an assault case — and since assault does not need to include physical injury — medical records were not part of the case. She said she never intended on entering the medical records into evidence for the jury to consider.
Assault is when a victim is put in fear of imminent physical danger, while battery is when actual physical harm has been committed.
The judge stopped the trial, and a motion to dismiss the case in its entirety was filed by Lundberg.
Where the new charge comes from
On April 9, when the jury was supposed to be rendering a verdict, Boyce was hearing from Lundberg say why this case should be dismissed. If the case was “dismissed with prejudice,” there would be no further opportunity to prosecute, and the defendant would be free to go. If a mistrial was issued, the case could be retried with a new jury.
Lundberg said the prosecuting attorney’s office withheld medical records that he needed to defend his client. He said a mistrial would “tip the scales of justice” in favor of the prosecutor as he defended his motion to dismiss the case. He added that because he had only just received the medical records on April 9, even though the prosecutor had them since March 31, he would need experts to interpret the new information.
Smith countered that Lundberg had a year to request medical records. She also argued that an assault case did not rise to the level of medical records. This was not a battery case, she said.
“Respectfully, I just don’t think Mr. Lundberg cares about the records,” Smith said during the motion hearing. “I think this is a distraction.”
She added that Lundberg did not make an attempt to subpoena the medical records, even after he knew the victim had been hurt.
Boyce weighed the motion. He emphasized that he did not find that the prosecutor’s office operated in “bad faith.” He said the issue was a matter of timing as to when the prosecutor had the medical records and the start of the trial. The judge added that although the defense should have access to the medical records, the prosecutor’s actions did not arise to dismissing the case entirely.
The case will be rescheduled, and a new jury will be called. No date has been made as of Friday.
Additionally, since both the judge and the defense acknowledged that physical injury was relevant in this case and the medical records should be released, on Wednesday, Smith filed a felony battery charge to acknowledge the alleged physical harm the victim received.