Judge won't delay trial

COEUR d’ALENE — An April trial for the second accused killer of William “Bo” Kirk will not be postponed, despite arguments by defense counsel that a trial as early as next month could compromise the defendant’s case.

After listening to attorneys Thursday, First District Judge Scott Wayman said arguments in favor of vacating Justin Roy Booth’s April 24 murder trial didn’t convince him to seek another trial date.

“I don’t think good cause has been established to continue the trial,” Wayman said.

Booth, 37, has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, kidnapping, robbery, arson and for being a felon in possession of a firearm. He was charged last April, two weeks after co-defendant David Hutto was convicted and sentenced to three life sentences without a chance for parole for his role in Kirk’s death.

The two men are accused of kidnapping Kirk after a road rage incident in Coeur d’Alene and shooting him to death.

Wayman said he empathized with defense attorney Jed Nixon, the third attorney to take the case since Booth was charged a year ago, but attorneys including Nixon had agreed in October to an April trial.

Nixon wanted the trial postponed because he recently — a month before trial — received a 149-page transcript of a police interview with Booth’s then-wife, Heather Booth, as well as a batch of pictures of the handgun allegedly used in the murder.

There isn’t time for a follow up investigation, and he feared that his client may have a solid post-conviction case for inadequate counsel because of the time constraints, Nixon said.

“This is obviously very serious, and very serious charges go along with it, each of which carry potential life sentences,” he said. “To be ready to proceed to a two- to three-week trial, there is simply not enough time.”

He asked the trial be moved to October because aside from an investigator, he had no other assistance.

“That’s part of the deal,” Nixon said. “It should not be reason for Mr. Booth to get a raw deal.”

The batch of late evidence, which prosecutors had also received last-minute, was redundant, deputy prosecutor Rebecca Perez said, and something defense counsel already had.

After reading the motion to continue Booth’s trial, listening to testimony from the attorneys and drawing on his own experience, Wayman said the logistics may not be ideal, but that didn’t warrant postponing the trial.

“It is the rare case where an attorney is allowed the opportunity, or feel like they had all the necessary time to present a case,” Wayman said.

Booth, who is in the Kootenai County Jail on a $2 million bond, has another pretrial hearing scheduled April 20, and attorneys said they will likely continue to seek a resolution until then.

“We’re not prepared to put that on the record at this point,” Nixon said.