Bismarck Tribune - North Dakota News - Lead prosecutor requests a second trial for Moe Gibbs

Lead prosecutor requests a second trial for Moe Gibbs

Jul 22, 2007 - 04:04:00 CDT

VALLEY CITY (AP) - The lead prosecutor in the Moe Gibbs murder trial that ended with a deadlocked jury is requesting that the case be tried again.

Barnes County State's Attorney Brad Cruff said he has asked Southeast District Judge John Paulson to put the case back on the trial calendar.

When and where a second trial would take place would be up to the judge, Cruff said, but he doubts it would be held in Minot again.

The first trial was moved to Minot because of pretrial news coverage in southeastern North Dakota.

Gibbs, 34, is accused of killing Valley City State University student Mindy Morgenstern, 22, of New Salem, in her off-campus apartment last September. The 12 jurors in the first trial were split evenly on whether he was guilty, and Paulson dismissed them July 12 after four days of deliberations.

Morgenstern was stabbed and strangled in her apartment. She and Gibbs, a former Barnes County jailer, lived in the building. Authorities said Gibbs' DNA was found on the fingernails of Morgenstern's left hand and on part of the shirt she was wearing, but jurors could not agree on whether the DNA evidence implicated him in her death.

Gibbs also faces a rape charge in Fargo, and charges that he sexually assaulted five women at the Barnes County jail while he worked there. Gibbs was transferred to the Cass County jail in Fargo after his murder trial in Minot ended.

The Class AA felony murder charge against him carries a maximum penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

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Comments

johnson bill wrote on Jul 27, 2007 6:21 AM:

" i agree with po3,, dna does not get under nails from a door knob.. in fact that alone is a good test the prosecutors should use.. just try it on someone and they will find out it dont get under the nails , it could possibly get on a finger print but not under a nail.. i wish chuck liddel would prosecute this time.. a good submission would help the truth come out "

PO3 wrote on Jul 22, 2007 8:08 PM:

" Someone's DNA under fingernails doesn't get there by touching door knobs. Enough said. "

Incredulous wrote on Jul 22, 2007 4:48 AM:

" I hope the AG's office takes over this time. Cruff is the reason for the 6/6 split, which is really a huge loss, even though it wasn't an acquittal. I doubt he could pull it off, even with a 2nd try. "

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