Hearing delayed again in Vail homicide case

EAGLE, Colo. – The timing of the trial of Richard Moreau, set for February, remains uncertain after a court hearing Wednesday.

While the trial date is still set for Feb. 7, delays on expert reports from the prosecution are leaving questions about whether the trial, which was originally scheduled to begin Sept. 20 of this year, will start on time.

Moreau is charged with first-degree murder, along with seven other felonies, in the Nov. 7, 2009, shooting of a Carbondale doctor at the Sandbar in West Vail.

Moreau’s public defenders, Reed Owens and Dana Christiansen, told Judge R. Thomas Moorhead Wednesday that expert reports should be ready in about two weeks.

Assistant District Attorney Steve Mallory said defense attorneys made the same claim at the last hearing more than a month ago.

Mallory expects the defense attorneys to need time to review the reports before Mallory and District Attorney Mark Hurlbert also have time to review the reports.

Hurlbert, who was not in court Wednesday, has said the assumption is that the experts are from the mental health field, but Christiansen wouldn’t comment on what kinds of experts are compiling reports.

Christiansen told Moorhead that he communicated with one of the experts via e-mail on Tuesday, who told him reports would be ready in about two weeks.

It’s still too early to tell if the delay would affect the trial date, Christiansen said.

Moorhead decided to postpone Wednesday’s pretrial hearing until early December because discussing other items related to the trial would be premature without the reports.

Moreau is accused of shooting Gary Kitching and three others in the Nov. 7 incident, most of which is caught on video from the Sandbar’s surveillance cameras.

Kitching, 70, of Carbondale, died from his wounds, which included gun shots to the chest, left thigh and arm. His wife, Lani, was hiding behind a couch about 10 feet away when her husband was shot.

Hurlbert decided in March not to seek the death penalty against Moreau, citing a lack of “reasonable probability” that the death penalty could be secured.

lglendenning@vaildaily.com