| Stridiron and Davis Appeal to ND Supreme Court |
| Retha Colclasure |
| 10/2/2009 |
| Three lawyers with three different arguments all made their case to the North Dakota Supreme Court today. And they did it twice. Attorneys for Antonio Stridion, who was convicted of murder in Minot in 2008, and for Bradley Davis, who was convicted of aggravated assault, appealed the convictions to the state`s highest court. Davis and Stridiron were also both convicted of robbery. The two defendants were tried together. That`s just one of the issues being appealed. Should Antonio Stridiron and Bradley Davis have been tried together for what happened on July 29, 2007? That`s just one of the arguments attorneys made to the state`s highest court today. "No. We feel these should have been handled in separate trials, and he was substantially prejudiced," says Joshua Rustad. His client, Bradley Davis, was convicted of aggravated assault. Authorities say he beat Joshua Velasquez with a garden tool after attending a party in Minot. But he wasn`t charged with murder. That charge was for Antonio Stridiron, whose attorney says he wasn`t allowed to defend the way he wanted to. "There was a statement made by Bradley Davis that he was the person who killed Joshua Velasquez. It seems to me that when there`s a statement of that nature made, there`s a dead body and somebody saying I killed him, I should be able to present that to the jury," says Robert Martin, Stridiron`s attorney. He says he has federal case law on his side, but the trial court at the time disagreed. That`s another issue that these justices will decide. All four convictions were being appealed in two different hearings today, something prosecutors say isn`t all that unusual. "This case was tried in Minot, the murder and the aggravated assault case. There was a different case tried in Grand Forks, the robbery, and when there are two cases involving the same defendants, the Supreme Court will attempt to hold arguments on the same day," explains prosecuting attorney Timothy Wilhelm. The five justices on the state`s Supreme Court took both cases under advisement, as they do with all cases. Lawyers also raised issues that a potential juror was removed from the jury pool solely because of her race, and that there wasn`t enough evidence to support a conviction. |
© KMOT-TV
Home | News | Weather | Sports | Webcast | Morning News | Programming | Primetime Rewind | Advertising & Sales | About Us
Community Connection | Movies | Contests & Promotions | Search | Links | Contact Us | Site Map | Follow us on: Facebook
Sister Stations: KFYR TV in Bismarck, KUMV in Williston, KQCD in Dickinson
