The trial of the fifth and final defendant in a 2015 murder-for-hire killing has ended in a mistrial during jury selection, which had begun Monday in the 7th Circuit Court in Rapid City.
Richard Hirth had entered pleas of Not Guilty and Not Guilty by reason of insanity to a charge of 1st-degree murder in the death of Jessica Rehfeld, but Judge Heidi Linngren called off the trial after ruling a key defense witness was no longer credible.
Montana psychiatrist Dr William Stratford, a specialist in evaluating and treating mental health disorders, recently agreed to a civil settlement with the federal government for violating the Controlled Substances Act.
Hirth’s attorneys asked Judge Linngren to bar the prosecution from asking Stratford about the settlement. When the judge denied the motion, Dr Stratford refused to testify – which the judge ruled compromised Hirth’s right to a fair trial.
Pennington County State’s Attorney Lara Roetzel issued a release say she is “deeply upset” by the cancellation of the trial and remains committed to seeking justice for Rehfeld’s family. She did not give a timeline for a new trial.
Hirth is accused of fatally stabbing Rehfeld after being hired along with David Schneider to kill Rehfeld by Jonathan Klinetobe, her ex-boyfriend, because she’d filed for a protection order against him.
Klinetobe pled guilty in 2019 to a reduced charge of aiding and abetting 1st-degree manslaughter and is serving life in prison without parole. Schneider pled guilty in 2017 to 1st-degree murder and was given 75 years with eligibility for parole after 45 years.
Michael Frye and Garland Brown, hired by Klinetobe to rebury Rehfeld’s body, each entered guilty pleas to accessory after the fact. Brown got 4 years and Frye 5 years, but with a suspended execution – essentially making it a sentence of parole.