The trial for Mark Redwine was rescheduled for the end of January, but it is anyone’s guess if it will successfully happen then.
“With what’s going on nationally, statewide and locally (with the COVID-19 pandemic), I’m not sure Jan. 25 is a realistic date,” said District Judge Jeffrey Wilson. “But we can shoot for it and we’ll see what happens.”
The trial for Redwine, accused of killing his 13-year-old son, Dylan, in 2012, has been postponed and delayed a number of times since he was arrested in July 2017.
In the most recent attempt, which began Oct. 29, Redwine’s trial was making headway when a few days in, during the jury selection process, Wilson temporarily suspended proceedings after he experienced mild COVID-19 symptoms.
Wilson’s tests came back negative, but then Redwine’s defense attorneys said multiple members of their team were showing COVID-19 symptoms.
Redwine’s public defenders argued they were forced to close their offices and quarantine for up to 14 days, which could delay the end of the trial to as late as the end of December.
As a result, Wilson declared a mistrial Monday, effectively canceling it.
It’s unclear if there were any positive COVID-19 cases among the defense; results were supposed to be available Sunday. The public defender’s office did not respond Friday to requests for comment.
Eric Hogue, court administrator, said the court had not received the defense’s test results.
All parties agreed to the Jan. 25 start date for a trial, though it remained uncertain whether the COVID-19 pandemic would end up canceling the trial again.
“No one knows what the world is going to look like in January,” said Justin Bogan, one of Redwine’s public defenders.
A court hearing was scheduled for Jan. 5 to assess whether the trial can proceed at the end of the month.
jromeo@durangoherald.com
