Shannon Green
Columbia County Sheriff's Lt. Wayne Smith and defense attorney David Geier examine documents during testimony Wednesday in the case against Curtis Forbes, accused of the 1980 death of Marilyn McIntyre.
Jurors will come from outside Columbia County if a trial is held in the 1980 death of Marilyn McIntyre, but no decision has been made yet about what evidence the jurors might see.
Citing both Internet and media publicity in the case against Curtis Forbes, 52, Judge Alan J. White announced Wednesday that a jury chosen from people living outside Columbia County would be more objective if the case heads to trial.
Forbes faces life in prison if convicted on a charge of first-degree murder in the death of McIntyre, 18, a family friend, in Columbus on March 11, 1980.
White listened to nearly three hours of testimony Wednesday covering the details of law enforcement officials' interaction with Forbes and his wife, Debra Forbes, on March 24, the day Forbes was arrested.
Defense attorneys Robert Christensen and David Geier, both of Madison, filed a motion in September stating that Forbes' arrest was illegal; testimony revealed that while investigators with the Columbia County Sheriff's Office had a search warrant to obtain a DNA sample from Forbes, they did not have a warrant either for his arrest or for a search of his home near Randolph on March 24.
The motion filed by defense attorneys asserts that Forbes' arrest was illegal and requests that all evidence gathered on March 24 and all information gathered as a result of the evidence not be used before a jury if the case goes to trial.
Following a traffic stop of Forbes at 6:27 a.m. March 24, testimony revealed that authorities took Forbes briefly to his home before taking him to the sheriff's office in Portage while other authorities remained at his house, questioning Debra Forbes for more than six hours, during which time they conducted a search of the house and retrieved a computer and a flash drive, among other items, as evidence.
Forbes was questioned for several hours March 24 after arriving at the sheriff's office at 7:30 a.m.; he was told he was under arrest for the murder of McIntyre and booked into the jail after 7 p.m.
The hearing Wednesday included testimony from detectives and deputies with the sheriff's office, who were questioned on whether Forbes had invited authorities into his home and when he was informed of his rights.
The hearing Wednesday included testimony from:
• Lt. Wayne Smith of the Columbia County Sheriff's Office, one of two deputies who stopped Forbes the morning of March 24, who testified that Forbes invited Smith into his home following the traffic stop.
Smith also testified that, following a trip at about 9 a.m. March 24 to Divine Savior Healthcare where Forbes' DNA was collected, that Forbes could have been released if he had asked to be.
• Marvin Dilley, Forbes' family friend and a driver with Debra Forbes' trucking company, testified that he has known both Curtis and Debra Forbes for 30 years. During a brief stop at the Forbes' home on the morning of March 24 while Debra was being questioned by detectives, he said she was the most upset he had ever seen her.
Dilley also testified that investigators told him, while he was at the Forbes' residence that morning, that Forbes had been arrested and that "he was going away and he was never coming back."
Assistant Attorney General David Wambach, who is prosecuting the case, said that while he would prefer to be able to use all evidence gathered in the case, the case will continue if White rules in favor of the motion to suppress the evidence.
"I don't expect that (a ruling in favor of the motion) would derail this prosecution," Wambach said.
The hearing continues today at 9 a.m.; a ruling on the motion likely will take place in a few weeks, after White has time to review the testimony from the two-day hearing.
Forbes remains in the Columbia County Jail on $450,000 cash bail.
White ruled in July, following two days of testimony, that the case against Forbes had sufficient evidence to proceed.
Authorities say McIntyre was killed during the early morning hours of March 11, 1980, at her apartment in Columbus while her husband, Lane McIntyre, was at work.
An autopsy report said she was bludgeoned, strangled and stabbed. The definitive motive has not been established.