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The North Dakota Supreme Court has rejected a petition from Dallas Rice for a new judge in his case involving felony theft from an archery club for which he had served as president.
Rice had petitioned the Supreme Court for a supervisory writ on Oct. 2 after North Central District Judge Gary Lee on Sept. 28 rejected a plea agreement in which Rice would plead guilty to conspiracy to theft, a Class A felony. The terms of the plea agreement were not disclosed.
In March, Rice was charged with conspiracy to commit theft of property of more than $50,000 and theft of property of more than $50,000, both Class A felonies, in connection with money missing fro the Souris Valley Bowmen.
Without giving Rice the opportunity to withdraw his guilty plea, Lee revoked bond, ordered Rice into immediate confinement in the Ward County Jail and directed a trial be set.
The Supreme Court on Oct. 14 agreed Lee erred in applying the criminal code and ordered bond be reinstated, allowing Rice to be released from custody, which Lee complied with at a status conference Oct. 16.
The Supreme Court did not immediately act on Rice's other request for a change to an out-of-district judge. On Nov. 5, the Supreme Court released its opinion denying a new judge.
According to the court opinion written by Justice Mark Friese, Rice should have first asked the district court to disqualify Lee, which is the general procedure. That did not happen, and the court ruled Rice has adequate alternative remedies to address the issue in district court first.
Rice had argued Lee's violation of the criminal code has the appearance of bias and the fundamental fairness of the case was jeopardized. However the Supreme Court disagreed that a misapplication of the law amounts to the appearance of bias or reflects adversely on the judge's honesty, impartiality, temperament or fitness to serve.
Early in the case, the acting presiding judge of the North Central Judicial District asked the Supreme Court to reassign the case to a judge outside the district so Rice's case would track with the case of his wife, Nichole Rice, a codefendant whose case was assigned an out-of-district judge, and avoid the appearance of impropriety or bias. The Supreme Court denied the request on April 1.