A 24-year-old Arkansas City man was bound over Thursday morning for arraignment and trial in the capital murder case involving a former Cowley College student and danceline team member.
Cowley County District Court Judge Jim Pringle decided sufficient evidence had been presented so that Justin Thurber should stand trial for kidnapping, raping, sodomizing, and killing 19-year-old Jodi Sanderholm of Ark City. Arraignment was set for 3:30 p.m. July 9.
Prosecutors originally planned to call more than 30 witnesses to convince Pringle that Thurber should go to trial, but called only about 20 instead.
“We put our heads together and felt we had presented enough for the defendant to be bound over,” said County Attorney Chris Smith.
Kansas Attorney General Paul Morrison was lead counsel in the case. Assistant Attorney General Andrew Bausch was also involved.
“I think in a case like this, especially in a preliminary, the standards are much lower than in a jury trial,” Smith said. “It’s a combination of all the witnesses and everything presented that the judge internalizes and makes his decision.”
Sanderholm disappeared Jan. 5 after a practice session with the Cowley College Tigerette Danceline. One witness testified Thurber followed her several days before Sanderholm disappeared; another that she saw Thurber in the parking lot at the auditorium where practice was held on the day Sanderholm vanished.
A third witness Wednesday testified he also saw Thurber in the parking lot Jan. 5 and several others said they saw Thurber in the area where Sanderholm’s body was discovered Jan. 9. Her car was found about eight miles away in the Cowley State Fishing Lake, east of Ark City.
The preliminary began Wednesday morning and was expected to last through Friday if all the witnesses had been called. Thurber was present and is represented by Rob Evans and Tim Frieden of the death penalty defense unit of the Kansas State Board of Indigents Defense Services.
An arraignment is a proceeding in a felony case in which a defendant is brought before the court to answer to a criminal charge. The defendant is asked how he or she pleads.
Thurber was returned to the county jail following Thursday’s hearing.
