A hearing in the murder case against Justin Thurber of Arkansas City has been scheduled for 10 a.m. Jan. 4 in Cowley County District Court in Winfield.
“The court has ordered the hearing in order to hear from interested parties and determine whether certain pretrial motions containing sensitive information should be filed under seal or certain subsequent hearings be closed to the public,” Ashley Anstaett, spokeswoman for Attorney General Paul Morrison, announced this morning.
Thurber is charged with capital murder in the death last January of Jodi Sanderholm, a popular 19-year-old Cowley College student from Ark City.
Morrison is trying the case with Cowley County Attorney Chris Smith. Thurber’s lawyers work for the Kansas Death Penalty Defense Unit.
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.
Pre-trial hearings are procedural devices used prior to trial to narrow issues to be tried, obtain rulings on matters of evidence, and to aid in the disposition of the case.
