Former Sandpoint man guilty of murder

SANDPOINT - A jury in North Dakota convicted a former Sandpoint man of murder and a host of other charges on Wednesday.

The Wahpeton Daily News reports that the jury deliberated for three hours before finding Jonathan Peter Horvath guilty in connection with a March 2013 shooting death in Williston.

Horvath's trial was moved from one end of the state to the other due to extensive pretrial publicity, the paper reported.

Derrick Spiegel, 28, was slain outside a Williston strip club during an argument.

Horvath's defense counsel, Steven Mottinger, told the jury that his client had no intention of shooting Spiegel and brandished the weapon to bring a swift end to the argument.

"We have to look at the big picture," the paper reported Mottinger saying. "Horvath's intention was to say, 'leave us alone.' He never intended to kill Derrick Spiegel."

Prosecuting Attorney Nathan Madden brushed aside notions that the shooting was accidental or that Spiegel posed a threat. Horvath pushed past a woman to reach an unarmed Spiegel and fired three shots.

"There is no force being threatened at the defendant," Madden said. "If you're willing to fight through somebody, that's determination and that's intent. The defendant is taking every opportunity not to leave, but to put the gun somewhere fatal."

In addition to the murder charge, Horvath was convicted of two counts of terrorizing and a single count of reckless endangerment.

A sentencing date for Horvath, 46, is pending.