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WILLISTON HERALD
From Page 1
FRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 2014
Kirkpatrick wants conviction tossed over advice
• Obituaries Larry Stewart Larry Stewart, 78, of Williston, passed away at Mercy Medical Center in Williston on Wednesday evening, Aug. 6, 2014. His funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Monday, Aug. 11, 2014, at First Lutheran Church in Williston. The Rev. Martin Mock will officiate. Interment in Riverview Cemetery will follow the service. Friends may call at Ever-
son-Coughlin Funeral Home on Sunday, Aug. 10, from 1 until 5 p.m. and for the hour preceding the service at the church on Monday. A complete obituary will be announced by EversonCoughlin Funeral Home in Williston. Friends are welcome to visit www.eversonfh.com to share memories of Larry or leave condolences for his family.
William “Bill” Hought William “Bill” Hought, 52, of LaQuinta, Calif. and formerly of Bonetraill, Williams County, passed away Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2014, in Indio, Calif. Funeral arrangements will be announced and a complete obituary will fol-
low. Friends may visit www. eversonfh.com to share remembrances of Bill or leave condolences with his family. The Everson-Coughlin Funeral Home of Williston is caring for the family.
Ethel Elsberry Ethel Elsberry, 80, of Williston, died Friday, Aug. 8, 2014, at Mercy Medical Center in Williston with her family by her side. Friends may sign the
online register and give their condolences at www. fulkersons.com Fulkerson Funeral Home of Williston is assisting the family.
EBOLA: State monitoring FROM PAGE A1
ids, such as blood or sweat. The virus is not transmitted through the air. A person has to develop a fever before they are infectious. Once a patient is infected, it can take up to three weeks to develop a fever, and by then the patient may not associate their fever with exposure to Ebola. Anyone who has traveled to Guinea, Sierra Leone or Liberia should remain vigilant after returning to the U.S. If they experience any illness at all within 21 days of travel, they are urged to limit their contact with
others and seek professional medical help immediately. The patient should be sure to tell his or her provider about recent travel. The DoH will be monitoring the CDC’s information regarding Ebola and will keep the general public informed of the status of the virus in the state. “Because the world has grown smaller with the convenience of airline travel, we need to be absolutely vigilant in trying to prevent the disease from entering into and/or spreading within North Dakota and the rest of the United States,” said Kirby Kruger, director of disease control at the DoH.
BY EMILY WELKER FORUM NEWS SERVICE
FARGO – An Oklahoma grandfather convicted of hiring his handyman to kill a Fargo dentist five years ago is asking a judge to throw out his conviction, claiming he got bad advice from an attorney he sold all his possessions to be able to afford. Gene Kirkpatrick, 67, argued in Cass County District Court on Thursday that his attorney at his murder conspiracy trial in 2011 failed to provide him effective counsel by urging him not to testify. Kirkpatrick said his attorney, Mack Martin, told him not to take the witness stand because at the time, the lawyer thought he was winning the case and being cross-examined by prosecutors would come with potential “pitfalls.” Martin’s assessment of how the case was going proved incorrect. A jury took just four hours to convict Kirkpatrick of conspiring with Michael Nakvinda in the murder of Philip Gattuso, who Nakvinda beat to death with a hammer in Gattuso’s south Fargo condominium. Kirkpatrick told Fargo detectives he gave $3,000 to Nakvinda for “expenses” in the murder-for-hire, though he later argued that his statement was involuntary and he never hatched an agreement with Nakvinda. Nakvinda and Kirkpatrick are both serving life sentences with no chance for parole – Nakvinda at a North Dakota prison and Kirkpatrick at a South Dakota prison. Prosecutors say Kirkpatrick wanted Gattuso dead to get custody of Gattuso’s then 3-year-old daughter. Gattuso fathered the girl with Kirkpatrick’s daughter, Valerie, who died of a heart condition seven months before the murder. Kirkpatrick was represented at Thursday’s post-
Photo courtesy of Forum News Service
Making his case Gene Kirkpatrick testifies in a hearing where he asked a judge to throw out his conviction for murder conspiracy. conviction relief hearing by a court-appointed attorney. The retired telecommunications salesman said he had to sell everything he owned to pay Martin’s fees in the murder conspiracy case. His public defender, Ryan Thompson, told the court the best defense technique for Kirkpatrick would have been to allow him to say to the jury, in his own words, why some incriminating things he’d said and done had been “twisted” by police investigators. Kirkpatrick had testified in the earlier, separate trial for Nakvinda, agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors in that case. On the stand in court Thursday, Kirkpatrick maintained, as he did throughout his and Nakvinda’s trials, that he had no formal agreement with Nakvinda to kill Gattuso. “In my understanding a formal agreement would
be – ha ha – when, like selling a house,” he said. “That clearly did not happen.” Martin prepared him to testify on his own behalf up until two days before the trial ended, Kirkpatrick testified Thursday. Martin even promised in his opening statement in the trial that Kirkpatrick would take the stand. Then, the lawyer changed his mind. “Mack is an effective, trained attorney,” Kirkpatrick said Thursday. Martin testified via phone that he had enjoyed a good working relationship with Kirkpatrick and had considered him a friend. He had believed two days before the trial ended that they were winning the case, he testified, so he explained to Kirkpatrick there were potential problems that could arise with him on the stand, faced with crossexamination.
“It became my belief that if he testified it would be more damaging to us,” said Martin, “based on my obviously incorrect belief the trial was going better than it did.” The family of Gattuso’s brother now has custody of the dentist’s daughter, after a custody fight in court with Kirkpatrick’s still-living daughter. The dentist’s brother also sued Kirkpatrick for wrongful death, winning a judgment of nearly $10 million. Judge Steven Marquart took the civil lawsuit for post-conviction relief under advisement and will rule on the case at a later date. The North Dakota Supreme Court in 2012 rejected Kirkpatrick’s direct appeal for a new trial. A direct appeal contests rulings and issues that came up before and during a trial and in the sentencing process.
NURSING: Williston State program has excellent reputation FROM PAGE A1
701-572-4736
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the press release. DNP faculty and staff strive to explore and utilize best practices in distance education to create environments that promote student learning.
With changes in healthcare, WSC and the entire DNP consortium are continually improving curriculum design and upgrading equipment to fit the needs of the students, according to the press release. All sites have
simulation training with state of the art simulation rooms and mannequins. “Simulation in nursing is a very positive influence with the student because they are getting exposed to an event or situation that is
made to resemble an actual situation or event,” Johnson said in a statement. “In simulation we can teach theory, assessment, pharmacology, and skills as well as helping the student to use critical thinking.”
W A N T T O S AV E U P T O 3 0 %
RAILROADS: Farmers, ranchers worried about harvest
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11 weeks for cars. “Inadequate rail service has caused severe financial losses for our producers and elevators on the 2013 crops. Furthermore, inadequate service is already devastat-
Kurt Bjorgen • 701.774.0348 Technology Advisor
Find it here www.willistonherald.com
ing the 2014 cycle because elevators are unable to contract as they normally would if they could count on timely shipping,” said Commissioner Randy Christmann in a statement. “This is not only a problem for North Dakota because
when the grain is dumped on the ground while waiting for transportation, the food supply loses quality and goes up in price. Thus, this is a problem for the whole country.” The PSC will hold a meeting with railroads again on
Aug. 7 to receive a status report on eliminating the backlog and a plan for meeting the needs of producers, according to the PSC. The commission is also exploring legal advice to see what actions can be brought forth in this situation.
START: Some schools in Williston have no air conditioning FROM PAGE A1
fans to help us support this change.
“Local school boards need to know how you and your families feel about the start date of school.”
Williston Public School District No. 1 begins its school year Aug. 20 this year. The measure gained local
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steam last year during the unusually hot late August, said Wilkinson Elementary Principal Jeremy Mehlhoff, whose school along with the high school and middle school have air conditioning system, except for use in the cafeteria, gym and offices. Many parents expressed concern about their children attending school on hot days. “The areas without AC turn into a sauna on hot days,” Mehlhoff said, adding he was torn on the subject whether to start school later in the year.
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