Charles Crane/MDN District Court Judge Gary Lee and Minot Police Detective Elijah Hanks look on as Ward County State’s Attorney Rozanna Larson addresses the jury during her closing arguments in the murder trial of Heather Hoffman on Sept. 12. Hoffman would be found guilty by the 12-person jury after two and half hours of deliberation.

Fourteen murder cases passed through North Central District Court in Minot in 2023. Though several progressed to jury trials, with most resulting in convictions, a majority of the murder cases, including several high profile ones, have taken circuitous routes through the courts and remain active and open.

Ward County prosecutors have won convictions delivered by local juries, with the lone exception being Donald Cooper, who was acquitted of participating in the 2020 shooting death of Dominick Stephens. Cooper is currently serving a 25-year sentence in Wisconsin for causing the death of two individuals while on the run from the Minot charge.

The first conviction of the year was that of Milo Whitetail for the murder of Eric Patterson in 2020. Whitetail appealed the conviction to the North Dakota Supreme Court, which rebuffed his claims of being in a dissociative state during the murder. Whitetail is now serving a sentence of life without parole.

Yet another murder case resolved itself through a plea deal, with Justin McDermott pleading guilty to shooting Kenny Javar, 36, outside a Minot bar. His sentencing will take place next year.

Convictions included Heather Hoffman, 26, Minot Air Force Base, who was convicted in less than three hours for the shooting death of Alexander Eckert, the father of her child, and co-defendants Matthew Anderson and Regina Goodale, who were found guilty just as quickly for the shooting of Goodale’s estranged husband, Wade Goodale, 42.

Hoffman was convicted despite support from her family to bolster her alibi that she never left their shared home located on base the night of the murder, but jurors believed the testimony of an eye witness who said he helped sneak Hoffman out of and back onto the Air Force base. Hoffman is awaiting sentencing, which has been delayed due to a clerical error involving one of the exhibits used in the trial.

Goodale’s and Anderson’s defenses had to overcome testimony from Whitney Faye Racine, 35, Minot, who admitted to her involvement with coordinating with the couple to set up the victim. Racine was sentenced to 18 months in prison after cooperating with prosecutors, with her testimony contributing to the conviction of the pair. Anderson received a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for committing the murder, while Regina Goodale was sentenced to 35 years in prison and 10 years of probation as his accomplice. .

The new year is set to begin with the long delayed trial of Shawnee Krall for the murder of his roomate, Alice Queirolo. District Judge Stacy Louser has ordered a security review after a litany of jailhouse incidents and threats made by Krall toward court staff and his own court-appointed attorney. Krall’s trial date for the 2020 murder has been continued and delayed several times, including a trip to the Supreme Court that threw out evidence from Krall’s vehicle, including the victim’s body.

Other active cases set to proceed into the new year include two which have garnered national attention and exposure: the cold case murder of Anita Knutson, 18, from 2007, and the more recent alleged poisoning of Steven Edward Riley Jr., 51.

Knutson’s former roommate, Nichole Rice, 36, was charged with her murder in 2022, but the trial scheduled for earlier this year was punted to the end of next summer. The case against Rice entered a state of limbo at the end of September, when her defense team alleged and later established through expert testimony that former Minot Police Detective Mikali Talbott had provided false information in her testimony at Rice’s preliminary hearing in 2022. District Judge Richard Hagar denied the motion on Dec. 15. Hagar said it was uncontested that Talbott’s testimony on the issue of Rice’s DNA was incorrect but she had not done so knowingly and maliciously. Rice is currently out on a $120,000 cash bond.

Riley’s longtime girlfriend, Ina Kenoyer, has been charged with poisoning him with anti-freeze. Investigators say her motive was to claim a sizable inheritance the pair believed he was to receive. Several statements released to state and national media by investigators indicate that the $30 million inheritance likely did not exist. Kenoyer is being held at the Ward County Jail after canceling a bond review hearing, leaving the original $1 million bond in place.

The year closed with the addition of another murder to the tally, with the shooting death of Nicholas VanPelt, 41, Minot which occurred the evening of Christmas Eve. Daniel Breijo, 39, Surrey, has been arrested and charged with VanPelt’s murder, as well as with the attempted murder of an unidentified female victim. District judges and Ward County court personnel have recused themselves from the case, due to their familiarity with all parties. Breijo is being held on a $2 million cash bond.