9th Circuit judges hear Bromgard appeal
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Judges with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments Tuesday on Yellowstone County's liability for providing defense to Jimmy Ray Bromgard, a former Billings man who spent 15 years in prison before being exonerated.
Attorneys for Bromgard last December appealed a ruling by Chief U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull, saying he erred when he concluded that the state of Montana, not the county, was responsible for providing Bromgard an adequate defense.
Bromgard wants the appellate court to reverse Cebull's ruling and to send the case to a jury.
Yellowstone County maintains Cebull's ruling was correct and should be upheld.
Oral arguments were presented before three judges in Portland, Ore.
Chief Deputy County Attorney Dan Schwarz and Deputy County Attorney Mark English represented the county. County Commissioner John Ostlund and support staff also attended the hearing.
Attorneys Ron Waterman of Helena and Peter Neufeld of New York City represented Bromgard.
Each side had about 15 minutes to argue its case with the judges actively questioning the attorneys, Waterman said. Judges typically issue rulings within four to six months of when a case is deemed fully submitted, as in Bromgard's case, he said.
Bromgard was convicted in a 1987 jury trial on charges of raping a child. He was represented by the late John Adams, a court-appointed private attorney who represented indigent defendants. Bromgard served 15 years at Montana State Prison before he was exonerated in 2002 when genetic testing using new methods found he did not rape an 8-year-old girl.
His conviction was based largely on hair evidence analyzed by former state crime lab director Arnold Melnikoff. Melnikoff and his evidence have since been discredited.
Bromgard sued the state and the county in 2004, alleging his rights were violated. Bromgard settled his state claims for $3.2 million, which is the largest amount Montana has ever paid to settle a civil rights case.
Bromgard, who now lives in Kalispell, claimed the county violated his Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel. Bromgard's lawyers called Adams' defense "grossly inadequate," saying Adams did little investigation, called few witnesses at trial and did not appeal the jury's verdict.
A key issue Bromgard's attorneys raised on appeal is whether the county is liable for causing Bromgard injury through its "policy, practice and custom" of providing constitutionally inadequate representation to criminal defendants in 1987.
Deputy County Attorney Kevin Gillen said Tuesday that the county has always maintained that the state was responsible for providing attorneys for indigent defendants. "That was the argument today," he said.
Cebull ruled in the county's favor that state district judges controlled court-appointed counsel; under the system at the time, the county merely paid attorneys chosen by the judges.
Posted in Local, Top-headlines on Tuesday, November 3, 2009 6:15 pm Updated: 9:13 am. | Tags: Jimmy Ray Bromgard,
