By Heather Melson

New Century Press/Griggs County Courier

Judge Thomas E. Merrick ruled Tuesday against a motion to throw out evidence in Daniel Wacht’s murder trial.

Wacht has been charged in the January 2011 murder of Cooperstown resident Kurt Johnson.

At stake was the bulk of the prosecution’s physical evidence, including the victim’s severed head.

According to Steve Mottinger, Wacht’s defense attorney, law enforcement obtained search warrants based on affidavits which contained false information.

During a hearing last Thursday, Jan. 19, at Griggs County District Court, Merrick heard testimony from a number of witnesses, including Ronald Berge and Griggs County Sheriff Robert Hook.

Among the evidence in question was a statement made by Berge, Johnson’s relative. Berge testified Thursday that, contrary to what Hook wrote in his affidavit, Berge never actually spoke to Wacht and never told the sheriff that Wacht said he had taken Johnson to his house after they left the Oasis Bar on New Year’s Eve. Berge said that information was relayed to him by bar patrons. Berge also stated that everything else in his statement in the affidavit was correct.

Hook testified Thursday that the false statement in the affidavit was due to a “communication mistake” between himself and Berge.

Based on that affidavit and others, authorities obtained a search warrant for Wacht’s van, as the case was then classified as a missing persons report.

On Jan. 5, 2011, Wacht was arrested outside his workplace, Sheyenne Tooling, on a California warrant for parole violation. Upon his arrest, it was discovered Wacht was carrying a stolen, loaded 9 mm pistol in his back pocket, which according to statements made by Wacht, he routinely carried while at work.

After Wacht’s arrest, the van was searched, and authorities found five empty .223-caliber shell casings and a live .223 round. There was also blood evidence in the van, which led to the subsequent search warrants of Wacht’s home, where Johnson’s head was discovered.

It was the defense’s argument that because the original affidavit contained false information, all three searches should be thrown out.

“Ronald Berge’s information was just one very small piece of a much larger picture,” Hook said Tuesday before the judge’s ruling. “Our affidavit and request for the search warrant wasn’t based solely on Ron Berge’s statement.”

After the hearing Thursday, Mottinger told the press, when asked if the case against Wacht could proceed without the evidence he’s seeking to suppress, “I’m sure the state’s very hopeful that the search warrants stand up.”

In a telephone interview Monday afternoon, Mottinger remained optimistic, but said that if the judge rules against his motion to suppress, his plan was to “pick a jury and take the case to trial.”

“A motion to suppress is routine,” Hook explained. “The only thing the defense can do is attack the state’s evidence. It’s set up that way.”

Wacht faces life in prison without parole if convicted of Class AA murder. His jury trial is set to begin April 16.

Wacht’s defense attorney’s motion to suppress evidence in Johnson murder case is denied