OSKALOOSA —
According to a document filed in Mahaska County District Court, Mahaska County Supervisor Henry “Willie” VanWeelden has been granted a new trial.
VanWeelden had been convicted on Feb. 3 of first-degree theft, felonious conduct in office and tampering with documents after a week-long trial. The charges were in regards to VanWeelden placing his wife, Bonnie, back on county health insurance coverage after he was reelected in November 2008. She was covered initially after VanWeelden was elected in 2001. She was removed in 2004 and then was reinstated in early 2009 after VanWeelden was reelected in 2008.
In mid April, VanWeelden’s defense team argued for a new trial. Defense Attorney Matthew Moore argued that VanWeelden was denied due process through a series of actions. Moore argued there was prosecutorial misconduct in that prosecution witnesses Greg Gordy and Lawrence Rouw were observed sitting next to each other in the hallway discussing cross examination questions. He also argued that there is a Communications Research Institute DVD of an April 6, 2009, Mahaska County Board of Supervisors meeting that discussed the addition of Bonnie VanWeelden to the county health insurance plan. Also, with the totality of the circumstances, VanWeelden was deprived of due process and a fair trial.
Judge Paul Miller reviewed the request for new trial and determined the DVD of the April 6, 2009, supervisors meeting was newly discovered evidence that could not with reasonable diligence be discovered and produced at trial.
Miller writes that the Iowa Supreme Court has held there is broad discretion on the part of the trial judge to determine the legitimacy of granting a new trial based on newly discovered evidence. The defendant needs to show that the evidence was discovered after the verdict, could not have been discovered earlier with due diligence, it is material to the case and probably would have changed the result of the trial.
Miller reviewed the arguments concerning the DVD of the supervisors’ meeting. He determined that it could not have been found because is was mislabeled as “April 6, 2008,” instead of the correct date of “April 6, 2009.” The video was found after trial. Miller also determined that the videotaped proceedings of the meeting were material to the case and the jury is entitled to hear the statements made from that meeting. He determined that “Rouw’s trial testimony lacks credibility in light of the contents of the DVD of the April 6, 2009, Mahaska County Board of Supervisors’ Meeting.”
The Mahaska County District Court document states that “The jury’s Verdicts of Guilty in Counts I, II and III are vacated and set aside, and this case will be reset for trial.”
A telephone pretrial conference will be held 3 p.m. June 1.
Herald Editor Duane Nollen can be reached by email at oskynews@oskyherald.com
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