Attorneys in the capital murder case against Justin Thurber of Arkansas City will be back in District Court in Winfield Wednesday for motion hearings.
The motions deal with pre-trial issues and the state’s intention to seek the death penalty if Thurber is found guilty of the capital murder last January of Jodi Sanderholm, a popular 19-year-old Cowley College student from Ark City.
Cowley County Attorney Chris Smith said defense attorneys have filed nine motions that presiding judge Jim Pringle is expected to rule on. They are non-evidentiary motions, requiring no evidence.
“…thus, mostly legal argument(s),” said Ashley Anstaett, spokeswoman for Kansas Attorney General Paul Morrison.
For example, there is a motion for discovery (the pre-trial examination of a person or thing to obtain information relevant to the case.) Another motion is for Thurber to appear at all proceedings without restraints, and a third asks that investigating officers keep their notes.
The defense doesn’t want cameras in the courtroom, seeks a gag order that would prevent attorneys from either side from commenting on the case, and wants to preclude the creation of “snitch” testimony, according to Smith.
These and other motions should take most of the morning to resolve, he said. The hearing begins at 9:30 a.m. on the second floor of the Cowley County courthouse and is open to the public.
Sanderholm disappeared Jan. 5. Her car was found four days later in the Cowley State Fishing Lake, east of Ark City off U.S. 166. Her body was found?about 11 miles away, in a wooded area near the Walnut River.
Morrison is trying the case with Smith. Thurber’s lawyers work for the Kansas Death Penalty Defense Unit. The trial has been scheduled for next June.
