Daniel Breijo

With a jury trial just six weeks away, the Surrey man charged in the Christmas Eve 2023 shooting that left one man dead and a woman injured has filed a motion to exclude evidence derived from allegedly unlawful searches.

In a motion filed on Jan. 30, Daniel Breijo, 41, has requested the suppression of all evidence from the alleged unlawful searches, which Breijo asserts violated his Fourth Amendment rights.

Breijo’s motion identified four alleged violations, which include the unlawful execution of a daytime search warrant at the alleged crime scene at night in absence of any exigent circumstances; that investigators unlawfully exceeded the scope of the warrant and an amended warrant to search the scene of the alleged shooting; that Breijo’s firearm was unlawfully seized without a warrant and that his clothing was unlawfully seized.

According to the motion, law enforcement were dispatched the evening of Dec. 23, 2023, to the apartment of Nicholas Van Pelt after a report of gunshots was received. The officers breached the apartment, and located the victims in the hallway and laundry room of the apartment, and Breijo in a bathroom. Van Pelt was pronounced deceased at the scene, while the female victim was transported to a Minot hospital.

According to court documents, Breijo was immediately detained and cuffed, and one officer located a handgun on the bathroom floor near Breijo. The officer allegedly picked up the firearm without gloves and stuck it under his waistband behind his back, an action which Breijo asserts mishandled and contaminated the evidence requiring its suppression.

Breijo also alleges his clothing was involuntarily seized about an hour before the warrant authorizing their seizure was approved.

Breijo’s motion alleges an investigator later testified in a deposition of their awareness that the clothing warrant didn’t authorize a nighttime search. According to court documents, an amended search warrant was later issued after “several Mason jars filled with raw marijuana buds” were located in Van Pelt’s apartment, but Breijo’s motion asserts this amended warrant did not cure the issue of the daytime warrant being executed at night.

Breijo’s attorney Jesse Walstad requested a hearing to further articulate his client’s arguments.

In other developments, BEK Communications has submitted an expedited motion to stay an order from district court Judge Daniel El-Dweek requiring the broadcaster to provide subpoenaed interview footage with the surviving female victim to the court for an “in camera” review.

BEK Communication’s motion indicated the broadcaster planned to petition for a supervisory writ from the North Dakota Supreme Court regarding the order. BEK argued the stay is necessary to avoid being required to provide the information in question or risk being held in contempt for failing to produce the material pending a review by the state Supreme Court.

No hearings have been scheduled on either of these matters, based on court records.

For his part, El-Dweek ordered to compel the surviving female victim to provide the defense access to her medical and psychological records covering a year prior to the shooting.