Regional News
Cost of Hotz murder trial in Chadron escalating
Published Friday, May 08, 2009 at 10:06 AM
County Attorney Vance Haug...who is sharing proscution of the 25-year old Hotz with the Attorney General's office...told the County Commissioners they're expecting to see a defense of temporary insanity.
That would put the county on the hook for one or more expert witnesses, estimated to cost between $30,000 and $60,000.
Dawes County has already had the added expense of having to house Hotz in another community instead of its own jail in Chadron because one of the victims in an alleged home invasion shortly after the killing of Kenny Pfeiffer was working in the courthouse on the recently-completed elevator project.
Hotz was originally scheduled for trial in March, but District Judge Brian Silverman granted a 3-month continuance in February to give the defense more time to prepare.
A pretrial conference is scheduled for next week, with the trial set for the jury term beginning June 8th. Hotz faces 8 felony counts, but just two are from Pfeiffer's death: 1st degree murder and felony use of a deadly weapon.
The others come from the alleged home invasion and a preceding attempted home invasion...both while Hotz was armed with 2 knives.
Those charges include attempted murder, 3 more counts of felony use of a deadly weapon, and single counts of attempted robbery and terroristic threats.
Hotz has remained in custody since the night of the murder with his bail currently at $5-million dollars.
© 2008 The Nebraska Rural Radio Association. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Nebraska Headlines from AP
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- © 2008 Rural Radio Network. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.