Screen Photo Daniel Breijo sits in room 302 of the Ward County Courthouse during a scheduling conference Monday, April 20, regarding his attorney's motion to withdraw from his case due to lack of payment.

While the parties in the trial of the man accused in the 2023 murder of serviceman Nicholas Van Pelt had planned on Monday, April 20, to hammer out the schedule for Daniel Breijo’s trial, his attorney’s motion to withdraw from the case has led presiding judge to schedule a hearing on that matter.

With all parties appearing via ITV, Breijo’s current attorney Jesse Walstad suggested to District Judge Daniel El-Dweek that a scheduling conference be held two to three weeks out, pending the Judge’s ruling on his motion to withdraw.

According to court documents, Walstad is seeking to withdraw from the case due to his client failing to make timely and consistent payments. Breijo has also filed for a court appointed attorney to replace Walstad.

El-Dweek informed Walstad he intends to hold a hearing regarding the motion to withdraw, and clarified with special Ward County State’s Attorney Amanda Engelstad that was acceptable to her given it could cause the trial date to be pushed back.

Engelstad said her schedule was filled with other trial appearances, and asked that any rescheduling of the trial date wait until the matter of Breijo’s representation is settled.

“Until he gets a new attorney, I would request that we don’t move the trial quite yet. I think the majority of the motion work has probably been done. There obviously could be some additional things that we would have to brief, but the majority has been done,” Engelstad said. “The one major issue other than the withdrawal is probable what the Supreme Court does on that supervisory writ.”

Engelstad was referring to a pending petition for a supervisory writ submitted to the North Dakota Supreme Court by broadcaster BEK Communications, which is fighting a subpoena filed by the state compelling them to provide un-aired interview footage and communications with the surviving victim from the Dec. 24, 2023, incident, identified in court documents as J.B.

Engelstad informed the court she didn’t intend to respond to Walstad’s motion and didn’t oppose it. El-Dweek set a motion hearing for April 27 at 1 p.m. regarding the motion to withdraw. The subsequent scheduling conference has not yet been rescheduled.