Category: News

Decker’s Attorney Moves to Suppress Interrogation Confession

The attorney for a Dickinson man facing life in prison for allegedly sexually abusing a 6-year-old female relative asked a judge to suppress state’s evidence of a police interrogation video that shows his client confessing to the crime.

Gregory Paul Decker, 53, who is facing charges of continuous sexual abuse of a child, a Class AA felony, took the stand Tuesday before Southwest District Judge Dann Greenwood after watching his 30-minute interogation video from Jan. 1.

The video shows Decker admitting to the allegations without prompting and within minutes of being interviewed by Dickinson Police Cpl. Brandon Stockie. According to court documents, Decker allegedly touched the girl on her private areas “five or six” times during 2015.

Tuesday’s hearing represented one of two cases against Decker for continuous sexual abuse of a child. The other alleges that in 1997 and 1998, he engaged in approximately 10 sexual acts within another female relative who, at the time, was between 6 and 7 years old.

Decker was arrested the morning of Jan. 1, his birthday, just hours after Dickinson police were called to his home after reports of a fight.

Following an evening with family and friends to celebrate he and his wife’s birthdays, Decker was confronted about the alleged abuse and then punched in the face by a man, who has not been identified by the court other than being a family acquaintance. Decker was taken to CHI St. Joseph’s Health sometime after 12:30 a.m., received stitches around his eye and was then released to police, who took him to the Public Safety Center for questioning about the incident.

Decker’s attorney, Michael Hoffman, alleges in the motion to suppress that Decker did not understand that Stockie, the lead detective on the case, had read him his Miranda rights because he was in pain after being assaulted, was confused and had high anxiety, and knew he was being being called a child molester by family and friends. Hoffman also alleges Decker didn’t know why the detective was questioning him, and said the detective “stated he was there to get (Decker) help for (his) problem or addiction.”

Within about three minutes of being questioned by Stockie, and before the detective brought up the alleged sexual abuse, Decker asked him, “What do you want me to say, that I was molesting her?”

“Well is that what happened?” Stockie asked.

“Well, yeah,” Decker replied.

Decker and the girl’s mother were both questioned by Stockie, which led to Decker’s eventual arrest. After Decker admitted to sexually abusing the girl, he told Stockie he wanted to get help and said he had been sexually abused as a young child.

Decker told Stockie he feared that he would lose his wife and family, and that his home would be terrorized.

Hoffman argued that Stockie purposefully led Decker to believe he’d help him get counseling and didn’t lead him to believe he may be placed under arrest. Stockie said during questioning that he employed a ruse detectives frequently use to try and extract evidence from suspects, and that what he did was a legal interrogation tactic.

Hoffman later brought Decker’s intelligence into question, calling him a “vulnerable person.”

Assistant state’s attorney James Hope argued that because Decker was released by the hospital, he was fully capable of answering Stockie’s questions despite his injuries, and said Decker’s history shows no reason to believe he has any mental vulnerabilities.

Decker is being held at the Southwest Multi County Correction Center. He will have a pretrial conference June 14, and a jury trial is scheduled to begin July 6. He faces the maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. A pretrial conference for his other sexual abuse charge is scheduled for July 19.

Decker's attorney moves to suppress sexual abuse interrogation confession

The attorney for a Dickinson man facing life in prison for allegedly sexually abusing a 6-year-old female relative asked a judge to suppress state’s evidence of a police interrogation video that shows his client confessing to the crime.

Gregory Paul Decker, 53, who is facing charges of continuous sexual abuse of a child, a Class AA felony, took the stand Tuesday before Southwest District Judge Dann Greenwood after watching his 30-minute interogation video from Jan. 1.

The video shows Decker admitting to the allegations without prompting and within minutes of being interviewed by Dickinson Police Cpl. Brandon Stockie. According to court documents, Decker allegedly touched the girl on her private areas “five or six” times during 2015.

Tuesday’s hearing represented one of two cases against Decker for continuous sexual abuse of a child. The other alleges that in 1997 and 1998, he engaged in approximately 10 sexual acts within another female relative who, at the time, was between 6 and 7 years old.

Decker was arrested the morning of Jan. 1, his birthday, just hours after Dickinson police were called to his home after reports of a fight.

Following an evening with family and friends to celebrate he and his wife’s birthdays, Decker was confronted about the alleged abuse and then punched in the face by a man, who has not been identified by the court other than being a family acquaintance. Decker was taken to CHI St. Joseph’s Health sometime after 12:30 a.m., received stitches around his eye and was then released to police, who took him to the Public Safety Center for questioning about the incident.

Decker’s attorney, Michael Hoffman, alleges in the motion to suppress that Decker did not understand that Stockie, the lead detective on the case, had read him his Miranda rights because he was in pain after being assaulted, was confused and had high anxiety, and knew he was being being called a child molester by family and friends. Hoffman also alleges Decker didn’t know why the detective was questioning him, and said the detective “stated he was there to get (Decker) help for (his) problem or addiction.”

Within about three minutes of being questioned by Stockie, and before the detective brought up the alleged sexual abuse, Decker asked him, “What do you want me to say, that I was molesting her?”

“Well is that what happened?” Stockie asked.

“Well, yeah,” Decker replied.

Decker and the girl’s mother were both questioned by Stockie, which led to Decker’s eventual arrest. After Decker admitted to sexually abusing the girl, he told Stockie he wanted to get help and said he had been sexually abused as a young child.

Decker told Stockie he feared that he would lose his wife and family, and that his home would be terrorized.

Hoffman argued that Stockie purposefully led Decker to believe he’d help him get counseling and didn’t lead him to believe he may be placed under arrest. Stockie said during questioning that he employed a ruse detectives frequently use to try and extract evidence from suspects, and that what he did was a legal interrogation tactic.

Hoffman later brought Decker’s intelligence into question, calling him a “vulnerable person.”

Assistant state’s attorney James Hope argued that because Decker was released by the hospital, he was fully capable of answering Stockie’s questions despite his injuries, and said Decker’s history shows no reason to believe he has any mental vulnerabilities.

Decker is being held at the Southwest Multi County Correction Center. He will have a pretrial conference June 14, and a jury trial is scheduled to begin July 6. He faces the maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. A pretrial conference for his other sexual abuse charge is scheduled for July 19.

Burglar who shot himself in head after standoff gets probation

The Reeder man who shot himself in the head after a standoff with Dickinson police last December was sentenced to three years of supervised probation Monday during an arraignment at the Stark County Courthouse.

Jeremy Mellmer, 32, had a five-year prison sentenced suspended by Southwest District Court Judge William Herauf after the judge agreed to the Stark County state attorney’s deal to keep the severely injured Mellmer out of the corrections system.

“He shot himself in the head and left himself in considerable poor health, which will greatly impact his life going forward as well as the reality of any extended incarceration,” said James Hope, Stark County assistant state’s attorney.

Mellmer pled guilty Monday to theft of property and burglary charges, both Class C felonies, after breaking into the home of Dickinson resident Bernard Deichert and stealing approximately $3,000 worth of firearms and other items on Nov. 24.

Mellmer, who wore a large neck brace and an eyepatch over his right eye, spoke in a gravely voice and mustered only one-word answers when responding to the judge’s questions.

Herauf said he was concerned about the proposed sentence, but agreed to keep Mellmer’s health burden out of the state’s hands.

“I’m going to go along with what’s been worked out, otherwise the state is faced with the problems that your health creates,” he said, before speaking directly to Mellmer about his future. “We’re not having this conduct again. None of it whatsoever.”

Joseph Mrstik, Mellmer’s court-appointed attorney, spoke on Mellmer’s behalf before Herauf agreed to the sentence.

“Through his own actions, Mr. Mellmer has significantly limited the ability to live his life and, frankly, if it weren’t for his father, he’d probably be out on the street and not doing very well,” Mrstik said. “My point is, he’s basically just taking it one day at a time, trying to make up for lost time and appreciating the fact that he’s still here.”

Mellmer escaped police during a traffic stop on Nov. 30. Police searched for him until Dec. 2, when they surrounded a house on the 900 block of Ninth Street East. The standoff ended when Mellmer shot himself. He has not been charged for that incident.

However, Mellmer is not done with court appearances.

He will have pretrial conference July 5 on charges of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver, a Class B felony, and possession of methamphetamine paraphernalia and carrying concealed firearm or weapon, both Class A misdemeanors. A July 20 trial is scheduled.

Hope said the state has few concerns about Mellmer committing further crimes following his final sentencing, solely because of his health.

“We’ll monitor his health condition and see how his recovery goes, and whether the health condition he has now is permanent,” Hope said in an interview.

Jail escapee punched in face, calls police

A Dickinson man wanted by authorities for escaping a South Dakota minimum-security facility nearly two weeks ago was arrested Tuesday morning by Dickinson police after he called them to report he had been punched in the face.

Paul Thomas Steiner, 62, was arrested shortly before 10 a.m. at a residence on the 300 block of East Broadway.

Steiner alleges that Terry Fussell, 51, of Dickinson, punched him while he was staying at Fussell’s home.

Steiner was taken to CHI St. Alexius Health Dickinson, where it was determined he had a broken orbital bone. He was arrested on multiple warrants and is being held at the Southwest Multi County Correction Center.

Steiner escaped from the Rapid City Community Work Center on May 20. He had been sentenced in March to five years at the facility after receiving his sixth charge for driving while intoxicated.

An aggravated assault charge for Fussell has been forwarded to the Stark County state’s attorney for consideration, Dickinson Police Capt. David Wilkie said Thursday.

No further information on the case was available.

Aging of the Guard: Color Guards in southwest ND consist of mostly retired veterans

BELFIELD — Larry Johnson points to a grouping of six 4-by-6-inch photographs taped to a wall of a room in the Belfield American Legion Hall.

The photos show the Belfield Legion Color Guard in formation at different funerals.

After a moment, Johnson looks at fellow Legion and Color Guard member Larry Ewoniuk and says, “a lot of those guys are gone now.”

It’s the same story everywhere in southwest North Dakota, where aging veterans organizations mean fewer young members — especially those willing and able to be involved in activities such as Color Guard for funerals and holiday services.

Eleven members of the Belfield Color Guard showed up for Monday’s Memorial Day services. “A perfect number,” Johnson said. There was a common theme amongst the group though.

Almost all are retired. The two youngest members there Monday were 50 and 33 years old.

“Are any of these people coming after us, are they going to be there for us?” Johnson asked. “We don’t know.”

Color Guards in southwest North Dakota are typically run by the American Legion. The group’s duties are to advance and retire the colors, perform Taps, and often present American flags to family members at funerals.

All Legion Color Guards consist of veterans who served in a branch of the military during a time of war. But, as Vietnam War-era veterans age, there are concerns that a looming struggle to get members will become an enduring challenge.

Art Wanner, who organizes the Dickinson (N.D.) Legion Color Guard, said he’s fortunate enough to have a “good core group” that turns out 10 to 14 members for Memorial Day, Veterans Day and funeral services.

“The fellas who start doing it, they don’t want to give it up,” Wanner said. “They’re dedicated and the folks we do it for, they appreciate it and that’s what it’s all about. But it’s hard. It’s hard to find the people.”

Recruiting the next group of veterans may require some waiting.

Wanner and other Color Guard leaders in southwest North Dakota said they try to get non-participating veterans involved in the services with little success.

Two of the biggest challenges is convincing potential Color Guard members that they don’t have to be at every funeral or holiday service, and getting their employers to allow them more freedom to take off work for those services.

“The biggest thing that would help us is if the employers pushed it,” Wanner said. “They have those individuals working for them. If they allowed them a little bit of flexibility to give them some time off to perform that service as a patriotic thing to do, that would be the key. A lot of those employers are hesitant to give them that time off.”

Jessica Clifton, the veterans service officer for Stark, Billings, Dunn and Hettinger counties, said it’s a struggle for younger veterans to become involved in organizations such as the Legion or Veterans of Foreign Wars because of the demand placed on them at home.

“They’re just too busy working and raising families,” she said. “They don’t have the time to join veterans organizations and Color Guard.”

Clifton, who is retired Air Force and has young children at home, said she would enjoy doing more with veterans organizations, but sees that as a part of her future.

Billy Hanson, the 84-year-old Legion commander in New England, said he speaks to younger veterans he knows, sends them letters and has even gone as far as having the club pay their yearly dues in an effort to get them more involved.

“We’ve got several of them here that were in different wars,” Hanson said of his local veterans. “They just don’t want to get involved.”

Hanson said, so far, his club has been lucky. They still get enough people together to perform Color Guard duties. Seven is the average number, he said.

“They’re all in their 60s or 70s that are all participating in the Color Guard,” Hanson said.

Kevin Carvell, Mott’s Legion commander, said about six months ago he convinced another veteran, a recent retiree, to join the club’s Color Guard. But that man came in on the heels of the group losing one member to health problems. Another, an 88-year-old World War II veteran, participated in Color Guard for the final time Monday.

“We’re maintaining,” Carvell said.

Wanner said while the Dickinson Color Guard gets a new member every so often, there’s a nearly universal fear of what they’re committing to. He said some are hesitant to join either because of the time commitment, or a fear they’ll be unable to properly carry out the duties.

“The older folks who have been away from the military for a while, they’re scared to try it,” Wanner said. “They don’t know if they can do it.”

Increasing age hasn’t stopped the Belfield Color Guard.

Minutes before the town’s Memorial Day services — and with a thunderstorm looming to the west — Johnson led seven riflemen, two flaggers and a bugler on a three-block march from the Legion Hall to the Belfield Theatre.

Along the way, the few people on the streets — including three young boys — stopped, removed their hats and paid respect to both the men and the American flag they were marching behind.

“I’m proud of my guys,” Johnson said.