FARGO - A judge is reconsidering his ruling to postpone the trial of former jailer Moe Gibbs on charges that he sexually assaulted five female inmates in the Barnes County jail.
Southeast District Judge Mikal Simonson agreed last month to postpone the sexual assault trial until after Gibbs' murder trial is completed, saying it was secondary to the murder case.
The murder trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 22 in Bismarck. Jurors deadlocked in July after hearing evidence in Gibbs' first murder trial, which was held in Minot.
Gibbs, 35, had been scheduled to go on trial Sept. 17 in Valley City, N.D., on the assault charges, a month before he faces his second trial on a charge that he killed Valley City State University student Mindy Morgenstern in the apartment building where they both lived.
At a Tuesday hearing, Jonathan Byers, an assistant attorney general, asked Simonson to reconsider his decision and hold the trial Sept. 17 as originally scheduled.
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Postponing the trial is not fair to the five victims who are trying to move on with their lives and get the assaults at the Barnes County Jail past them, Byers said.
Gibbs' defense attorney, Ross Brandborg, said the delay was the right decision and needed by the defense to be fully prepared for trial.
Gibbs is also slated to stand trial Dec. 4 for the 2004 rape of a Fargo woman.
He has pleaded not guilty to all pending charges.
- Associated Press
