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Show Judge, Attorneys, Defendants Meet in North Star Conference PANGUITCH The judge who will sit on the North Star case when court convenes for a preliminary prelimi-nary hearing on May 22 made it clear to attorneys on both sides at a status conference April 20 that the case will start on time. Sixth District Court Judge Kay L. Mclff gave Garfield County Attorney Wallace Lee 10 days to come up with four public defenders for seven of the nine charged with felonies in the death of 16-year-old Aaron Bacon in March 1994 on the desert near Escalante as he participated partici-pated in the North Star wilderness program for troubled youth. Sheldon Wellins, a California attorney, at-torney, had originally agreed to defend de-fend all nine but Judge Mclff and the attorneys were concerned that common counsel representation for nine defendants could at some point deteriorate if the defendants began "finger pointing." He also said it could prove difficult for one attorney attor-ney to equitably defend all nine and not, at some point, find himself unable un-able to provide fair defense for one defendant without sacrificing the best interests of another. Six of the nine North Star defendants de-fendants and their two attorneys, one of whom who has since withdrawn, with-drawn, and attorneys for the state were in Sixth District Court in Panguitch for the lengthy status conference which also determined indigency for all defendants except North Star owners William Henry and Lance Jaggar. Present in court in addition to Henry and Jaggar were Georgette Costigan, Brent Brewer, Eric Henry and Jeremy Ashlock. Jeff Hohenstein, Craig Fisher and Grinnell (Sonny) Duncan were not in court. Representing the state were Rob Parrish, chief of the Children's Justice Division and his assistant Craig Barlow. Judge Mclff, who became a district dis-trict court judge in January replacing replac-ing retiring Judge Don V. Tibbs, used the conference to ensure that there would be no hitches down the line. Attorneys for both sides met with Mclff in chambers where they agreed that two public defenders should separately defend Georgette Costigan and Brent Brewer, that one should be able to defend Eric Henry and Jeremy Ashlock, and that the final three, Jeff Hohenstein, Grinnell Duncan and Craig Fisher, could fairly be represented by common counsel provided by the state. The last three were not in court for various reasons and Wellin has 10 days in which to contact con-tact them to see if they agree to the common representation. Garfield County Attorney Wallace Lee also has 10 days in which to furnish names of four attorneys at-torneys who will act as public defenders. de-fenders. Costs of defending the seven will be the financial responsibility respon-sibility of the county unless the legislature makes some changes. Parrish, told the court he has four material witnesses, three juveniles juve-niles and one adult, all living in California whom he will subpoena and bring to Utah for the purposes of testifying. The judge issued the necessary certification for the four., none of whom has indicated willingness will-ingness to provide testimony. Wellins objected to the manner in which the state had approached some of those potential youth witnesses wit-nesses in California, noting to the judge that contacts had not been conducted properly according to California law. He urged the stale to be certain that future contacts were correctly made and proper documents obtained. He offered to help by contacting parents of the youth in an effort to secure their cooperation as witnesses. Parrish also said the state had made an offer by letters to four of the nine defendants who were charged with less serious crimes to enter discussion, but of the three who had received a letter, none had accepted and the offer was no longer on the table. The fourth letter let-ter had not been received by the party to whom the attorney general's gener-al's office had addressed it. The death of young Bacon and subsequent felony charges against owners and employees of North Star has generated nationwide media me-dia interest in the case. |