Jury selection commenced Tuesday, Sept. 3, at the Ward County Courthouse in the trial of a Minot man charged with conspiracy to commit sexual abuse at an elderly care facility.

Dalton Hattem, 33, faces two Class A felony counts of conspiracy to commit gross sexual imposition-sexual contact-victim unaware and sexual act-victim unaware. The trial is scheduled for four days from Tuesday through Friday, Sept. 5.

The cases of Dalton Hattem and co-defendant Amber Hattem, 33, Minot, have been severed, and Amber Hattem’s has not yet been scheduled for trial. Based on court records, Amber Hattem has been charged with two Class A felonies of gross sexual imposition-sexual contact-victim unaware and sexual act-victim unaware; and one Class A misdemeanor count of indecent exposure.

The Hattem’s were charged in March after a separate investigation into a cybertip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children allegedly discovered images and videos on the couple’s cell phones of numerous individuals in a hospital or nursing home setting. According to the affidavit of probable cause, Amber Hattem was employed as a certified nurse assistant at a Minot care center at the time, and Dalton Hattem requested and encouraged Amber Hattem to perform sexual acts against the victims who were residents at the facility under her care.

Based on court records, Dalton Hattem sought and was granted a speedy trial request in June, which was originally scheduled to occur in July before it was bumped to the beginning of September.

Dalton Hattem also sought to prevent Amber Hattem from testifying as a witness in the case regarding any confidential communication between them. Hearings were held on Aug. 7 and Aug 15 regarding the spousal testimony related to other alleged actions by the couple in Texas, as well as an alleged Brady violation, a violation of a defendant’s constitutional rights when a prosecutor withholds evidence favorable to the defendant.

Regarding the Brady Violation, court documents show Dalton Hattem requested all criminal histories of the State’s witnesses with accompanying Interstate Identification Indexes (III), an FBI-managed electronic index of criminal history record information between federal, state, and local criminal justice agencies.

The State objected on the grounds the Brady standard required it only to disclose impeachment evidence that it has in its possession and isn’t required to investigate for the defense. Further, the State noted in its response it had provided some of the III material related to Dalton and Amber Hattem.

According to court documents, Assistant Attorney General Marina Spahr responded to Dalton Hattem’s motion, asserting the testimonial privilege belongs solely to Amber Hattem, which she argued under North Dakota law was excepted due to the couple allegedly acting jointing in committing the crimes. Further, Spahr argued Amber Hattem has waived the privilege when she voluntarily provided disclosures to law enforcement during interviews.

Judge Cresap ordered the State to obtain III for all of their witnesses but only disclose any additional convictions that have not already been disclosed.

Cresap denied Dalton Hattem’s motion related to spousal privilege, ruling from the bench the spouses acted jointly in the commission of the crime charged based on the extensive testimony from Amber Hattem at the Aug. 15 hearing. Cresap stressed whether the State can meet the burden of proving the elements of the crime was a question for the jury.