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Welcome to The Clark Fork Chronicle
Saturday, July 22 2006 @ 12:55 PM MDT
Alex Layne released to probation in California
Thursday, September 22 2005 @ 11:20 AM MDT
Contributed by: Admin
Views: 140
by John Q. Murray
Alex David Layne, 17, was released from custody Monday after his attorneys reached agreement with prosecutors last week. Layne admitted to the equivalent of misdemeanor assault for his role in a melee March 25 in which Matt Palagi was stabbed to death.
Layne admitted that he ?purposely or knowingly caused bodily injury to Matt Palagi by striking him in the face with his fist,? court documents stated.
In return for his admission, prosecutors conceded that Layne?s case would be handled in youth court as a delinquent youth. They also dropped two felony charges: assault with a weapon and accountability for assault with a weapon.
The initial charging documents alleged that when Layne ran into the fray to assist his friends, Demetrius Joslin and Jesse Mauhar, he stabbed another youth.
Under Montana law, the felony charges originally filed against Layne meant that even though he was 17, he would be tried as an adult unless the case were transferred back to youth court. Before the consent decree was signed Friday, two hearings had previously been held regarding whether he was to be tried as a youth or adult.
Layne was released Monday from the Missoula County juvenile detention facility into the custody of his biological father, David Crouch. He will live in California and remain on probation until his 19th birthday in March, 2007, just under 18 months from now.
He had been held in custody in the Missoula County facility since April 4, a period of five and a half months.
Prosecutor M. Shaun Donovan said that although there was probable cause to file the charge of assault with a weapon, the subsequent investigation did not turn up sufficient evidence to establish proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
?We looked at this decision real long and hard, because it was real hard to make,? Donovan told the Chronicle Monday. ?The decision was driven totally by the evidence. We were satisfied that evidence to further support the charges was just not forthcoming, either because it didn?t exist or because we couldn?t find it.?
His rule of thumb has always been, ?I don?t ask the jury to believe something completely that I don?t believe 100 percent myself,? he said. ?So that left us with this one conclusion, and it is the only decision that we could make given the evidence,? he said.
Defense attorney Bryan Tipp said he was satisfied with the consent decree. With the stabbing charges dropped and the admission that Layne threw a punch, the agreement ?accurately states the full, complete extent of Alex?s participation in the events that night,? Tipp said.
He pointed out that the sentence for an adult charged with misdemeanor assault is six months. If Layne had been treated as an adult, the five and a half months he had spent in custody would have nearly discharged the sentence.
?I feel bad for the kid,? Tipp said. ?This has been a tortuous affair for him. I?m glad that it?s over.?
The agreement started to come together when Judge John Larson decided to release Layne from custody, Donovan explained.
While discussing the conditions of release in a telephone conference, the prosecutors and defense attorneys discussed the possible settlement of the case.
After the telephone conference, Donovan said he conferred with John Conner from the Attorney General?s office and Sheriff Hugh Hopwood, then made an offer to the defense attorneys, which they subsequently accepted.
The agreement had three parts, he pointed out.
First, it conceded the defense motion to transfer the case to youth court.
Second, Donovan filed an amended delinquency petition. Instead of one count of assault with a weapon and one count of accountability for assault with a weapon, Layne was charged with the equivalent of one count of misdemeanor assault.
Third, Donovan presented?and the court ultimately approved?a consent decree in which Layne was adjudicated as a delinquent youth, and placed on probation until age 19, subject to a number of conditions.
In addition to regularly meeting a probation officer, complying with a curfew, and following the recommendations of a psychological evaluation, the conditions also include consent to searches and to breath or urine tests to detect the presence of alcohol or drugs.
Layne is not allowed to possess any knife or any other weapon including firearms.
Two others are charged in the stabbing death of Matt Palagi and other charges stemming from the fight at a drinking party up Second Creek, east of Superior.
Demetrius ?Meechie? Joslin is charged with deliberate homicide and accountability for deliberate homicide in Palagi?s death. His trial is scheduled to begin in Superior Oct. 31 at 9 a.m.
Jesse Mauhar faces the same two charges in Palagi?s death, as well as attempted deliberate homicide in the stabbing of Cole McClung, and three felony counts of assault with a weapon, one each for allegedly stabbing Josh Kryszko, Jeremy Clark, and Tyson Lucier.
Mauhar?s attorney, Kirk Krutilla, has filed a motion seeking to move the trial from Superior to Missoula. Mauhar?s trial is scheduled to begin in January.
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