Almandinger trial won’t happen until May; other four unlikely to see see trial until at least July

Editor’s note: This story has been updated

PALMER — The trial of Erick Almandinger, the only of five teens to be charged in the December, 2016 murder of Palmer teen David Grunwald will not begin until May.

In a pre-trial conference on Monday at the Palmer courthouse, prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed that between the numerous evidentiary and status hearings required — including a change of venue request by the defense — more than four months will be required before both sides are ready for trial. Judge Gregory Heath, who attended the conference via phone, told the attorneys that the trial weeks of May 7 and May 14 would work best for him, leaving open the possibility of a May 21 carryover week if need be.

A number of motions presented by the defense, including that to change venue, are awaiting response from the District Attorney’s office, and Heath set another pre-trial conference for Jan. 16 at 1:15 p.m. to discuss a number of the motions to suppress evidence.

Almandinger was expected to be present for Monday’s conference, but ultimately it went on without him. According to officials in the courtroom, Almandinger is being kept in a Department of Corrections facility in Anchorage rather than Mat-Su Pretrial, which, they said was supposed to transport him to Palmer, but didn’t. It is not the first time Almandinger’s transportation to the courtroom has been frustrated and Heath sought to assure that Almandinger that would be made present for the Jan. 16 hearing. Almandinger is being tried separately from the four other teens accused in the kidnapping and murder of Grunwald, who was 16 at the time of his death. The other four, all being tried together, had a pre-trial conference on Tuesday.

There, the extreme shortage of attorneys and judges — not to mention funding — in the Alaska judicial system truly came into focus, and left it all but a certainty a true trial date won’t be set until well after the Almandinger case is tried.

Again Heath took the hearing over teleconference, where he was informed prosecutors and Lyle Stohler, attorney for defendant Dominic Johnson, had worked out a deal to sever Johnson’s trial from the remaining three — Bradley Renfro, Austin Barrett and Devin Peterson.

District Attorney Roman Kalytiak pointed out that a trial week had been set for May 14 in the Almandinger case, and that it might be helpful to have the severed Johnson case, or the the trial for the other three, tried before then to make room on the court calendar.

Attorneys for the three, including Chris Provost, who was appointed to be Renfro’s new lawyer just last week, said they would not be ready, and Stohler, too, said he would not be ready.

Stohler said he is ‘contemplating’ filing motions to suppress evidence, or possibly to address Miranda rights concerns.

Heath agreed to give Stohler and the rest of the attorneys a 60-90 day window to complete their motions, making it a virtual certainty that the cases for the other four will all be heard after Almandinger’s trial. The judge set a March 22 date for a pre-trial hearing to address all motions in the case, and set an April 2 trial call for the cases, though, he conceded, that date was merely a ‘placeholder’ on the calendar.

Stohler said he was due to be out of the country for much of July and September, making those months ‘less than good’ for his trial availability, which later prompted Kalytiak to react with frustration.

“People’s vacations can be rescheduled, but people’s lives can’t,” the prosecutor said.