BISMARCK — The North Dakota Supreme Court has let stand the conviction of a man who died by suicide while serving life sentences in the 2019 deaths of four people in Mandan, and dismissed as moot the appeal of his guilty verdict.
The attorney for Chad Isaak in June asked the North Dakota Supreme Court to grant him a new trial, citing several reasons. A jury in August 2021 convicted him on four counts of murder and other charges in the April 1, 2019, deaths of RJR Maintenance and Management co-owner Robert Fakler, 52; and employees Adam Fuehrer, 42; and married couple Bill Cobb, 50, and Lois Cobb, 45.
Three of the victims were shot, and among the four, they suffered more than 100 stab wounds, according to trial testimony. No motive was ever established.
South Central District Judge David Reich in December 2021 sentenced Isaak to four consecutive life sentences. Isaak had been behind bars since his arrest and was moved to the State Penitentiary after his conviction.
Isaak killed himself in his prison cell on July 31. His death brought questions about the status of his appeal and his conviction.
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The Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion issued Thursday, March 16, wrote "...deceased individuals’ statutory rights cannot prevail over the constitutional rights of the living. Abatement of criminal convictions would foreclose victims’ rights to fair treatment under the law and to meaningfully participate in the criminal justice system."
Justices analyzed whether a living defendant would suffer "collateral consequences" from dismissing the appeal. Isaak's conviction did not result in an order for restitution, and criminal fees were waived. Justices wrote that they were not aware of any wrongful death lawsuits or claims against Isaak's estate, and none of the victims' families asserted an interest in deciding the merits of the appeal.
A future case may have circumstances that require the court to decide the merits of an appeal after a defendant's death. But this case did not warrant such a review, justices concluded.
"Isaak is no longer alive to serve his sentence if we were to affirm the judgment. If we were to reverse the judgment, we could not grant Isaak the new trial he sought," the opinion states. "Under these circumstances, a decision would be advisory."
Isaak attorney Kiara Kraus-Parr in an appeal submitted to the Supreme Court on June 30 said Isaak’s judgment should be reversed for several reasons, including alleged errors during jury selection and violations of his right to a public trial.
After Isaak's death, the Supreme Court asked Kraus-Parr and Gabrielle Goter, who led the prosecution team in the criminal case as an assistant Morton County state’s attorney, for written arguments on whether the appeal was moot and if the conviction should be abated, which has the same effect as if Isaak had never been charged.
Goter argued that although the jury’s verdict “did not provide complete closure or make the survivors whole,” any “sense of peace and closure would be ripped away” by an abatement.
Kraus-Parr argued that there was common-law precedent requiring the conviction to be abated “because a judgment is not final until the appeal has been decided or the time for requesting review has run."
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