Rep. Jason Dockter (R-Bismarck)
BISMARCK, N.D. (NORTH DAKOTA MONITOR) – A jury trial in the criminal case against Rep. Jason Dockter will remain on the calendar for May 3 after concerns that the discovery of documents related to former Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem could cause delays.
McLean County State’s Attorney Ladd Erickson in December filed a misdemeanor charge against Dockter, A Republican, accusing the lawmaker of voting on legislation that would financially benefit him. Erickson told the Monitor previously that the charge is linked to a lease deal involving Dockter and Stenehjem’s office.
In a Monday status conference, Erickson, defense attorney Lloyd Suhr and South Central District Court Judge Bobbi Weiler discussed whether data from Stenehjem’s personal devices recently obtained by law enforcement are relevant to the Dockter case.
Erickson said in a previous hearing that he wants to avoid having to request the records because that would give Suhr thousands of documents to sort through — possibly resulting in the trial being postponed. Erickson said that Attorney General Drew Wrigley told him that a preliminary search of the records by state investigators have found nothing of relevance to the case.
“I’ve been assured there’s nothing in there related to this case,” he said.
Rescheduling the trial could pose a problem for Erickson because one of his witnesses is retiring and moving out of state soon, he said on Monday.
The Stenehjem data was discovered in relation to a federal investigation into former state Sen. Ray Holmberg, who faces child sex abuse crimes.
Some of the records have already been released to the media — the Attorney General’s Office in March shared around 2,700 pages worth of state emails discovered on data copied from Stenehjem’s cellphone. Wrigley has said his office expects to disclose thousands more emails in the near future.
Suhr said that it’s not reasonable to expect him to take Erickson’s or the state’s word about the content of the emails.
“Without seeing the emails, I don’t know what I’m dealing with,” Suhr said.
He said media coverage of the lease deal has led to widespread speculation by the public that Stenehjem showed Dockter favoritism, and that some people believe the emails could contain confirmation of such a relationship.
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