Ewings’ murder trial postponed because of COVID-19

A judge has delayed the joint first-degree murder trial of Clyde Ewing and his 17-year-old son, Demetri Ewing, pending the improvement of COVID-19 numbers in Nez Perce County.

Court proceedings over the last several months have been held via video conference or in person, depending on the rate of infections in the county. The Idaho Supreme Court suspended trials for a time last year, but they were set to resume before the current surge struck the area. The trial in the Jan. 8, 2021, shooting of Samuel Johns in his Lewiston living room had been scheduled to begin Feb. 7 and last two weeks. But with virus infections soaring in the area, the court has again suspended trials.

The Ewings and their attorneys appeared remotely Thursday for a pretrial conference before Nez Perce County District Judge Jay Gaskill. The hearing was to be the final such conference before the trial, but Gaskill instead vacated the Feb. 7 date and set a Feb. 10 status conference in the cases. He noted that the court’s current COVID-19 order will expire Feb. 11, and hoped that infection numbers will have improved enough by then to allow a new trial date to be set.

Clyde Ewing, 43, spent much of the hearing in a private video conference with his attorneys Rick Cuddihy, of Lewiston, and Sean Walsh, of Coeur d’Alene. When they emerged, Cuddihy informed Gaskill that his client was steadfast that he would not waive his right to a speedy trial. Nez Perce County Prosecutor Justin Coleman said that by his calculations, that gives him and the defense about 70 more days to prepare for the trial.

Investigators allege that a dispute over a stolen bag and gun may be what led to the early morning shooting at Johns’ Seventh Avenue residence Jan. 8, 2021. According to Lewiston police, the Ewings allegedly rode bicycles there from the Hacienda Lodge and invaded the home while wearing dark clothing and masks. Once inside, they allegedly shot Johns to death in his living room, then fled the scene. No murder weapon has been found.

Earlier this month, Gaskill denied defense motions to suppress much of the evidence the state will present at trial, including footage from surveillance cameras police collected from various locations between the Ewings’ Clarkston motel room and the Johns residence. Police allege that the footage shows them making their way between the locations on bicycles, but defense attorneys have noted that no faces can be seen in any of the videos.

Gaskill also shot down defense challenges to the evidence of probable cause police used to arrest the Ewings in Clarkston a few days after the shooting, and the warrant granted to search their motel room. Investigators seized several items from the room that allegedly tie the Ewings to the murder, and their attorneys sought to have that evidence tossed from the trial.

Prosecutors charged Demetri Ewing as an adult, even though he was 16 at the time of the killing. If convicted, the Ewings could be sentenced to life in prison.

Mills may be contacted at jmills@lmtribune.com.