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Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Prosecutor says resolution possible before trial
DAVENPORT—Either Lincoln County Sheriff Wade Magers will stand trial on his criminal charges or a resolution will be reached between the state and his defense, the parties said at a court date Wednesday, April 20.
Magers, who entered a not-guilty plea on charges of obstructing a law enforcement officer, making a false or misleading statement to a public servant and rendering criminal assistance in the third degree last July, was not present for the Zoom-only court date.
Presiding judge Thomas W. Cox of Garfield County granted a request from defense attorney Bevan Maxey for Magers to be excused from the appearance.
Prosecuting attorney Taylor Clark from Franklin County and Morgan Maxey, representing the defense, both asked for a continuance.
Clark added that there may be a resolution in sight, but a trial date still needed to be set in case that wasn’t reached.
Morgan Maxey requested the trial be continued to Jan. 2023, saying Magers wanted time to “prepare his staff (for) a changing of the guard” after the November election and give that staff time to “seek other employment.”
Magers announced last week he won’t be seeking re-election this fall.
Cox denied the defense’s request, saying if the trial occurs in July, it will have been over a year since Magers last appeared in court.
“This needs to be resolved rather soon,” Cox said. “I understand it’s an election year… (but) unless there’s a really good cause, I’m not prepared to extend this past the last week of July.”
He went on to question whether Maxey’s law office had completed all witness interviews. Clark then spoke up and said all but two had been done, to her knowledge.
The trial was then scheduled to begin Monday, July 25 if no resolution is reached.
A pre-trial date was set for June 29 at 1:30 p.m. and a June 17 appearance was scheduled for any motions to be argued. The latter appearance is scheduled for 10 a.m.
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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