John Stettler
KINGMAN – A Meadview man who spent more than ten months in custody awaiting trial gained freedom June 14 following acquittal by a Mohave County Superior Court jury.
Deputy County Attorney Amanda Claerhout had trouble convincing the jury and the judge that John Stettler, 42, used his homemade dune buggy to deliberate ram a quad operated by his on-again, off-again girlfriend late last July. Sally Minard, 38, Meadview, was fatally injured in the collision at the intersection of driftwood Drive and Boathouse Drive.
Defense attorney Paul Amann told the jury that Minard’s quad struck his client’s dune buggy and that the incident was an accident and not a crime.
Amann said Judge Doug Camacho granted his rule 20 motion dismissing the second-degree murder charge because the state did not meet the necessary burden of proof. The Judge however, allowed jurors to deliberate Stettler’s guilt or innocence regarding lesser includes charges of negligent homicide and manslaughter.
The panel deliberated less than two hours before returning it’s not guilty verdict about 6:30 p.m, ending the five-day trial.
Amman is grateful for the American justice system and an attentive jury.
“Our Mohave County residents sit through these trials, listening to some of the most difficult testimony and viewing some of the most horrendous evidence imaginable. They work hard to serve our community by performing this most vital function,” Amann said. “We are all blessed to live in this great country and particularly in Mohave County.”
Dave Hawkins
