The District Attorney’s office is postponing a Haines trial because one of the state’s key witnesses, former Haines Borough police chief Bill Musser, hasn’t responded to attempts to reach him.
The state has been trying to contact Musser since early June to testify in the second trial of Haines resident Ted Hart, assistant district attorney Amy Paige said this week. Using the contact information Musser left with the department for such occasions, the district attorney’s office has made about a half-dozen email and phone attempts to contact Musser.
“That left us in an awkward position, obviously, because we need him to be here for trial,” Paige said. “This is the first time I have ever faced a situation where an officer was not communicating with us about a case after their departure from the department.”
Officers are occasionally required to return to former places of employment to testify in cases they were involved in before their departure. The state pays for the officer’s travel expenses, per diem and housing arrangements, and tries its best to work around the person’s schedule if they have a new job or other obligations, Paige said.
“Usually the way that it works is they leave their contact information with us, we let them know what cases are still pending and when we expect them to go to trial,” she said.
Paige confirmed Musser’s contact information was correct with interim chief Robert Griffiths.
Now, Paige is going through the inter-state process of subpoenaing Musser, who is believed to be in Idaho. Musser can oppose the subpoena, but if the court grants it, he is legally required to appear. If he refuses, a warrant can be issued for his arrest, Paige said.
“I’ve never had a situation where an officer was unwilling to return to testify,” she said.
Hart’s second trial was scheduled for Monday but was postponed after Paige told the court last week that her office couldn’t get a hold of an important witness.
Harriet Brouillette, Hart’s mother, said she was surprised to hear the state was having trouble reaching Musser, as Paige hadn’t mentioned it at the July 13 calendar call meeting that preceded the July 14 meeting that resulted in the trial’s postponement.
“We went through that pretrial hearing and it probably took about five to 10 minutes. All they said was, ‘We are ready for the trial on the 20th,’” Brouillette said. “There was no mention of the fact that they hadn’t been able to locate Musser in two months.”
Musser’s last day on the job was in late May, though he submitted his resignation in March. He worked in Haines for about one year.
Hart’s first trial, in April, ended in a hung jury when the group failed to come to consensus on the two felony charges the 29-year-old was facing. The jury dismissed the charge of felon in possession of a concealable weapon, so Hart will face the charge of residing in a residence containing a concealable firearm at the second trial.
According to court documents, in August 2014, Hart’s probation officer found two handguns in Hart’s home while he was on probation for felony DUI.