Teen found guilty of both homicide counts

The Evergreen teenager accused of killing two people in a fatal car wreck last year was found guilty of two counts of deliberate homicide in Flathead County District Court on Thursday, Feb. 3.

Justine Winter, 17, was immediately taken into custody amid an emotional scene that followed after the jury’s unanimous verdict was delivered at 7 p.m. The four women and eight men of the jury deliberated about five hours following a nine-day trial.

Prosecutors accused Winter of intentionally crashing her southbound Pontiac Grand Am into a northbound Subaru Forester near a construction zone at the intersection of Church Drive and U.S. 93 in an alleged suicide attempt.

The crash killed 35-year-old Columbia Falls resident Erin Thompson and her 13-year-old son, Caden Odell, who were in the Subaru. Thompson, who was four months pregnant at the time, was well known in Whitefish and worked at Sage Spa & Salon.

Winter, who was 16 at the time of the crash, appeared to show no emotion as Judge Katherine Curtis declared the verdict legal and ordered her taken into custody. Winter was charged as an adult and is scheduled to be sentenced March 30. She faces up to 200 years or life in prison and a $50,000 fine.

Afterwards outside the Flathead County Justice Center, Jason Thompson, who was married to Erin Thompson for three years prior to her death, and other family members chose to limit their comments .

“We’re just relieved that the truth prevailed,” Jason Thompson said. “But it’s still a very sad day for all the families involved.”

His sister, Lindsey Eller, walked with him nearby.

“We’re just grateful to the jury,” she said.

Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan declined to comment immediately after the verdict was read. Defense attorneys Maxwell Battle and David Stufft met privately with Winter’s family and friends in the courtroom before exiting the building.

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Flathead County Deputy Attorney Lori Adams led off the prosecution’s case on Jan. 25 by reading selected text messages alleged sent from Winter’s cell phone to her then-boyfriend, Ryan Langford, in the hours prior to the crash. The messages included “It’s ending” and “I want to kill myself, good-bye Ryan.”

Montana Highway Patrol trooper Glen Barcus, the lead investigator in the accident, told the court on the second day of the trial that Winter’s vehicle crossed the centerline at about 85 mph and caused the collision. When cross-examined by Battle, Barcus said he didn’t know for sure if fog lines or a center line had been painted on the bridge.

Langford and Polson-based psychotherapist Treasa Glinnwater testified about the text messages on the third day. Langford said Winter’s suicide threats didn’t concern him, a point that Glinnwater backed up. Suicide threats had become a way for Winter and Langford to exercise control in their relationship, but it was always clear that the threat would not be followed through, Glinnwater said.

Richard Poeppel testified that he was driving behind Thompson at the time of the accident. He said they both had slowed to 45 mph as they approached the construction zone when a southbound vehicle cut across the center line and collided with Thompson’s Subaru.

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Highway Patrol Sgt. James Kitchin then testified about information retrieved from the Pontiac’s Airbag Control Module — similar to a “black box” used in aircraft. According to the device, Winter’s vehicle reached 86 mph two seconds before impact and Winter never applied any brake pressure, he said.

Kitchin said the “slap mark” left on the speedometer in Winter’s vehicle, when the needle impacted the face of the gauge, was consistent with the data from the Airbag Control Module. The device also indicated that Winter was not wearing her seat belt, a point some lawyers claim could help prove whether or not Winter intended to kill herself.

Two crash reconstruction experts testified on the fourth day. Highway Patrol Sgt. Dustin Lerette testified that some errors were made when he and another trooper surveyed the crash scene. Former Highway Patrol trooper Barb Watson, however, noted that the errors were insignificant, and both concluded that Winter was traveling at more than 80 mph in the wrong lane when the crash occurred.

More text messages between Winter and Langford were read aloud on the fifth day of the trial. The transcript ran from 7:51 p.m. to 8:21 p.m., after the two had argued and broken up their relationship. The crash occurred about 8:30 p.m. The messages were extracted from the cell phones with help from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Prosecutors claimed Winter told Langford in one text message why she wanted him to get out of her car that night: “Because I wanted to kill myself. I wanted you out of my car so I could do what you told me I couldn’t.”

In a later text message, Langford urged Winter to stop, saying, “You’ll hurt yourself, I’ll know and I’ll do the same.” Winter responded by saying, “That’s why I am going to wreck my car.”

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The defense began calling witnesses on Friday, Jan. 28, leading with an automotive mechanic who testified about the seat belt in Winter’s vehicle. Winter’s father, two teachers from Glacier High School and Langford’s mother testified about Winter’s character.

Defense attorneys continued to present their case on Monday, Jan. 31, by calling Kalispell private investigator Rick Hawk about what he had seen when he looked at the two wrecked cars in the impoundment yard.

Hawk said he didn’t see an orange “slap mark” on the speedometer, but he did see smudges on the speedometer on a later visit, which suggests it could have been tampered with.

The defense also called to the stand Scott Curry, of Libby, a forensics engineer who testified that the accident occurred in Winter’s lane, indicating it was Thompson’s vehicle, not Winter’s, that crossed the centerline.

Curry described how he used equipment to suspend the two wrecked cars in mid-air to exactly line up the contact damage. He also said he never saw a “slap mark” on the Pontiac’s speedometer when he visited the impoundment yard.

The defense also questioned Eugene Welch, who several days after the crash reported he saw Winter’s vehicle driving erratically moments before the incident. Welch told the court he never saw Winter’s vehicle cross the centerline but rather the line along the right side of the road.

The defense returned Curry to the stand the next day. The forensics engineer noted that 1999 Subaru Foresters were recalled because of a defect in their braking systems, while prosecutors challenged Curry’s conclusion that the roadway was wet and questioned Curry on his apparent firing from the U.S. Forest Service.

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On Tuesday, Feb. 1, the defense called psychologist Scott Poland, the prevention director for the American Association of Suicidology to the stand. Poland testified that Winter did not exhibit any standard warning signs of a suicidal person, such as anger, substance abuse and mental illness.

On cross-examination, Flathead County deputy attorney Lori Adams asked if Winter’s home life and the turbulent relationship with her then-boyfriend, Ryan Langford, could have resulted in depression. According to testimony, Winter’s parents were preparing to separate, and her mother was battling alcoholism.

Adams read aloud one of Winter’s text messages, which said, “God, did you pick the wrong person to care about. I have so many problems you don’t even know.” Another message said, “I live with them basically hating each other and hating me.”

Poland said Adams was referring to “mild issues, not severe problems,” adding, “You don’t become suicidal because your parents are having some difficulties.”

Forensic linguist Robert Leonard, from Hofstra University, followed by giving his opinion on the text messages sent between Winter and Langford in the half hour before the crash.

Leonard said it was his opinion that Winter’s messages were not suicidal. Instead, he said, Winter and Langford were carrying on a continuing cycle in which threats of suicide were used as a mechanism to gain conversational power.

“There is nothing abnormal about the conversation,” he said, pointing out that one of Winter’s messages simply meant she intended to break up with Langford.

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On Wednesday, Feb. 2, the prosecution called James Pittman, a Baton Rouge crash reconstruction expert, to testify as a rebuttal witness. When asked what evidence supported Curry’s conclusion that the crash happened in Winter’s lane, Pittman replied, “Absolutely nothing.”

Pittman said Thompson’s lane was marked with fluid stains, gouges and tire marks. He also pointed out that for Thompson’s vehicle to end up high-centered on a bridge railing, based on Curry’s conclusions, the Subaru would have flown in the air for 37 feet.

“It’s not possible,” he said.

The prosecution also called forensic linguist Lorna Fadden, who testified that Winter’s text messages about suicide posed a “credible threat.” Winter had a reasonable ability and the means to carry out her threat, Fadden said.

Lastly, the prosecution called Missoula clinical psychologist Paul Moomaw to testify on adolescent suicide. Moomaw concluded that Winter’s parents were “physically and emotionally” absent from her life. That, combined with her tumultuous relationship with Langford, created a stressful situation, he said.

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In his closing argument, Corrigan stressed that it was not his belief that Winter intended to kill someone else, but the unintended consequences were tragic fatalities for which Winter was responsible.

“It has never been the state’s position in this case that Justine Winter ... made a conscious decision that ‘I’m going to go out and kill someone,’” he said.

Winter had acted compulsively on her emotions when she veered into the oncoming lane after sending Langford the text messages, Corrigan told the jury. This was not an accident.

“This was a decision by this young lady,” he said.

Corrigan focused on the testimony of four crash reconstruction experts and used photographs from the crash scene to reiterate their findings. He asked jurors to use common sense when considering the testimony of defense experts.

“What is the strongest evidence that tells you what (Winter) intended when she sent that message?” he asked. “It’s what she did afterwards.”

Defense attorneys Battle and Stufft presented a completely different account in their closing argument.

Battle theorized that it was Thompson who crossed into Winter’s lane. He also criticized what he called the prosecutors’ “personal attack” on Curry, the collision reconstruction who laid the foundation for the theory that Thompson caused the crash.

Maintaining that the collision was a terrible accident and not an intentional act, Battle criticized Trooper Barcus, who led the initial investigation of the crash, and the findings of Sgt. LeRette who reconstructed it

Barcus had committed the “cardinal sin” of jumping to a conclusion before completing his investigation, Battle said. He also claimed a lot of evidence was never collected or documented.

Once Barcus, Corrigan and Deputy Coroner Ernie Freebury decided the fatal collision was a homicide — less than 24 hours after the crash — “every single thing since then has been an effort by the state to justify their charges,” Battle claimed.

Battle also questioned eyewitness Poeppel’s statement that he saw Winter’s Pontiac swerve into Thompson’s lane, noting that Poeppel’s claim surfaced more than a year after the crash.

“Anybody who really saw that the night of the accident would have written it in the report,” Battle said.

It’s likely that Winter’s case will be appealed to the Montana Supreme Court after Curtis sentences her. The defense attorneys raised at least three issues that could be appealed — whether Winter should have been tried as an adult, whether Curtis should have been removed from the case, and whether the case should have been tried in another venue.