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Caleb Sharpe Trial Postponed For A Year

Doug Nadvornick/SPR

A Spokane County judge has postponed for a year the trial for the teenager accused of carrying out a fatal shooting at Freeman High School in 2017.

Spokane County Superior Court Judge Michael Price has ordered Caleb Sharpe’s trial moved back to October 5, 2020. It had been scheduled for October 7 of this year.

The reason? Sharpe’s legal representation has changed from private attorney Bevan Maxey to Spokane County public defender Brooke Foley. Foley said in a court hearing on Friday that she and her colleague Anthony Beattie are still receiving documents from Maxey and from the prosecuting attorney’s office.

Deputy Prosecutor Kelly Fitzgerald said she would agree to the extension, but also asked that this be the final continuance. She argued the victims of the Freeman shooter and their families have already waited more than two years for a resolution to the case.

Price answered by saying the public defender always has the right to ask for a postponement.

But he was amenable to the idea of setting a firm trial date because of the complication involved in pulling together attorneys, witnesses and a jury for an extended trial. Fitzgerald said she expects the proceedings to last four weeks.

Price said, given that, the court will ask that 200 potential jurors be made available from the jury pool. He said he’s not worried about finding enough people for a jury; the question is finding people who can give four weeks to hearing a case.

Earlier this year, Price ruled Sharpe, who was 15 at the time of the shooting, will be tried as an adult.

 

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