Couture trial set for Oct. 30

By Maggie Plummer

POLSON -- James Arthur Couture, 47, who stands accused of the May 2, 2004 murder of 19-year-old Daniel McLeod of Ronan, has had his jury trial set for Oct. 30 at 9 a.m. in District Judge Kim Christopher's court.

Couture's trial date has been reset six times, due to his changing attorneys and some complicated legal issues with the state's evidence in the two-and-a-half-year-old case.

Court affidavits allege that Couture found McLeod stealing marijuana from his (Couture's) house in the Pache homesites east of Ronan, shot the young man multiple times, put McLeod's body in his car, drove to a Flathead River bridge west of Ronan, threw the victim's body into the river, and got rid of the gun by giving it to someone he knew.

McLeod's body was discovered by a fisherman a few days later, in the river near Dixon.

Couture faces a charge of felony deliberate homicide and two counts of tampering with or fabricating evidence. The prosecution is not seeking the death penalty for Couture.

The defendant was originally represented by Polson public defender Becky Dupuis. However, when Dupuis announced last November that she would no longer be taking criminal cases due to some pending criminal charges against her, Judge Christopher appointed attorneys John Putikka of Thompson Falls and Ben Anciaux of Polson to represent Couture.

Also complicating the murder case is the fact that the original warrant allowing police to search Couture's Ronan home and vehicle apparently disappeared. That warrant was reportedly misplaced when late lead county detective Andy Cannon had it. Cannon was being treated for cancer at the time, and was working on the Couture case at home.

Since Cannon's death, the search papers have not been located, and there are reportedly no copies of them.

The evidence resulting from the search was subsequently suppressed.

However, there is some confusion about exactly which evidence is being suppressed. Last Thursday, Judge Christopher presided over a hearing on a motion for clarification in the case.

The main question, apparently, is whether or not to suppress further documents from Chief Deputy Lake County Attorney Mitch Young, who is prosecuting the case.

That question is due to be answered by the attorneys during the next few weeks.