Bachmurski Found Guilty of the Murder of Jade Colvin

DECORAH, Iowa—The sixth day of the trial of James Bachmurski began with defense attorney Leigha Lattner renewing a judgement of aquittal for Bachmurski, reiterating that the state did not have sufficient evidence to convict Bachmurski. The prosecution reiterated its case and asked that the motion be denied. Judge Laura Parrish denied the motion. 9:07 a.m. - The Defense rested its case, and with no rebuttal, The State also rested its case. Judge Parrish explained the deliberation process to the jury, and dismissed them at 9:09 a.m. Judge Parrish then discussed with Council, an informal email that she recieved regarding the statute of limitations involved with the case. Lattner stated that the earliest evidence of Bachmurski's move to Georgia was dated at February 3, of 2021 Winneshiek County Attorney Andy Van Der Maaten noted that the prosecution had an exhibit of a driver's license for Bachmurski dated August 28, 2019. Lattner then cited case law that regarded "public residency", stating that there was no "hiding" involved with Bachmurski's relocation. Parrish said that she had reviewed that particular case and noted that it regarded a defendant who did not officially become a resident of the state to which they moved. Van Der Maaten stated that it was "clear that Bachmurski had moved to Georgia within three years." Judge Parrish stated that the statute of limitations was not applicable in this case. Lattner then said that Bachmurski was "not seeking any lesser-includeds". She also argued that there had been no "specificity" regarding the "Murder in the 2nd Degree" charge against Bachmurski, citing case law that identified that a victim had been "shot"; a specified act. The prosecution cited similar case law where "an act" had been sufficient in its specificity for prosecution. The court then went into recess as Judge Parrish put final instructions together at 9:29 a.m. 10:10 a.m.- Court resumed with final instructions for council from Judge Parrish. The jury was brought back into the courtroom at 10:13 a.m. Judge Parrish then delivered her instructions to the jury. At 10:30 a.m. Council delivered its final arguments. The prosecution delivered a presentation that began with a photograph of Jade Colvin, reminding the jury that Colvin had lived "a hard life, a difficult life." Reiterating the details that had been presented, such as her placement into the DHS system, her relationship with her mother LaDawn, and information regarding her alleged murder, "She drops off the face of the planet on March 30, 2017. She is gone. She is dead. We do not have her body, we do not…[but] March 30 is when everything stops for Jade…she's not going to walk through that door. She's not going to show up in Decorah next week," the prosecution summarized, going over photographs that had been presented to the court last week, "she is dead by the hands of James Bachmurski Sr." Prosecuting Attorney Scott Brown called the cell phone that was discovered at Tim Wiltgen's property "fortuitous", saying that it provided a "treasure trove" of information, and that without it, he wasn't sure what the state of the prosecution's case would have been. "He knows where she is," Brown stated, "He made no effort to report that Jade is missing...he waits over six years, and the only time he speaks to law enforcement is when Agent Turbett arrives; he says 'I've been waiting for you', are you kidding?". Brown also questioned why Bachmurski lied about Jade's location if he had "nothing to do with it".. "The reason he did that is because he had everything to do with it," Brown added. Brown also stated that there was no reason for Jade not to have resurfaced after she turned 18 years old, and was clear from DHS's jurisdiction. The presentation also covered the texting relationships between Jade, Bryan Bachmurski, and Bachmurski himself, noting the significance of Bachmurski, not Jade herself, telling Bryan that she had left for Tennessee, a story that Brown asserted Bachmurski told Agent Turbett was not true. The jury listened intently as Brown explained that Bachmurski had utilized a "five year headstart" over law enforcements' efforts by moving to Georgia and going by a different name, getting rid of his phone, and deleting information, texts, and photos from that phone; pointing to Agent Holly Witt's investigation of the available digital evidence. "He claims to know something later, but says nothing. Why?" Brown asked, "because he wants to be under the radar, he wants to walk away from it…all suggesting that he acted in a way that resulted in Jade Colvin's death…it looks bad. It looks very bad." Brown replayed three recordings, the first, where Bachmurski told Agent Turbett that the situation was "crazier than" he thought and that the house in which he had resided was "like the Amityville House", calling it evil. The second, where according to Brown, Bachmurski agreed with Agent Turbett that he had "lied to the world." The third was "the closest that officers came to a direct admission from Bachmurski" where he stated "I'd go to the grave before I tell the truth about this". Brown pointed out that these were only three of forty-four similar recorded statements from Bachmurski. Brown left the jury with this message, "Your job is to find the truth. The truth in this case is that James Bachmurski murdered Jade Colvin." Court then went into recess at 11:37 a.m. 11:34 a.m. - Court resumed with closing arguments from the defense. Defense attorney Lattner stated that the case hinged on three factors: "No body. No evidence. No Crime." telling the jury that the state would not be able to prove their case due to these factors. She pointed to Jade's history of running away, stating "she gets better and more sophisticated every time." Lattner presented evidence of Jade's "plan" for running away which included a written document written by Jade in 2016. The plan states that she would change her appearance, gain assistance, and stop using her social media accounts. She presented the jury with evidence from Jade's deleted social media accounts, messages between Jade and her friends that point to Jade "implementing her plan" to disappear. Lattner pointed out that one of the messages implies that Jade was under the impression that "she was going to an apartment in Dubuque," not to Bachmurski's farm. Another chain of messages seemingly indicates that Jade was unsure of where Dubuque was in relation to her friends' locations. Lattner provided photos that indicate Jade had begun changing her appearance and "shutting her friends out" before arriving at Bachmurski's farm. "She has to be more serious [this time]." Lattner spoke about the cleaning of the house on March 27. "In my experience, the simplest answer is usually the right one," Lattner said. She stated the house was a "pigsty" before Jade's arrival and that the reason for Bachmurski cleaning the property was likely due to Jade, a young girl, telling Bachmurski that she refused to live in "a pigsty," resulting in the cleaning of the house. "There's nothing nefarious with the cleaning of the house," Lattner asserted. Lattner spoke about the text conversations between Bachmurski and LaDawn, Bachmurski and Joey "Rain" Murphy, and Bachmurski and Kimberly Barta, presenting a timeline that she posited was "within the span of hours." According to Lattner, the timeline and messages indicate a conspiracy to aid Jade in disappearing. In one of the messages, Bachmurski was instructed not to contact police about Jade's disappearance. Lattner presented evidence of Jade's continued survival after March 30, 2017. She pointed to a conversation that occurred between Christina Wilson and LaDawn that indicated Jade was living in California. Christina told LaDawn that she had spoken to Jade in August 2017. She pointed to a report in which Summer Colvin, Jade's half-sister, indicated that she had been trafficked by Joey "Rain" Murphy. The last piece of evidence was the reiteration of a report that indicated an interaction between a "Kevin" and a young woman who identified herself as "Jade from Des Moines" on August 13, 2017. Lattner asserted that despite U.S. Marshal Scott Cannon's report that he had investigated the report and concluded the woman had to be Samantha Coday, not Jade Colvin, the woman mentioned in the report could not be Samantha Coday, as she had testified before the court that it was not her. "And it may be because I've been looking at these photos over and over for this case, but I don't see many similarities between Samantha Coday and Jade Colvin. 'Fifteen-year-old girl,' that's about it," Lattner stated. Lattner reminded the jury that cadaver dogs had been through the property and found nothing, and that law enforcement had tested "potential murder weapons" at the site and concluded there was no evidence of human blood on any of the items or at the site at all. Lattner conceded she was not sure what to make of Bryan Bachmurski's testimony, highlighting potential pitfalls in the testimony. "Some of it fits, some of it doesn't." Lattner moved on to the cell phone, claiming there was no evidence of an inappropriate relationship between Jade and Bachmurski, and that the state could not provide evidence to the contrary. "We know that Bachmurski purchased clothes for Jade," Lattner said, "that's it." She pointed to Agent Turbett's attempts to get Bachmurski to admit to inappropriate photos between himself and Jade, stating it was proof of the state's stretching the case to make the narrative fit. She went over other interactions between Bachmurski and Turbett, asserting that Turbett, "one of the best investigators in the state got absolutely nothing" over the course of 11 hours interviewing Bachmurski. "Eleven hours and he didn't slip up once?" Lattner asked. Lattner closed her arguments summarizing the events that occurred over the days of Jade's time in Decorah, again asserting that the state had no evidence of malice or forethought and that the state had failed to meet the burden of proof. "No body. No evidence. No crime." Lattner concluded. 12:39 p.m. - The Prosecution rebutted some of the Defense's arguments. Brown asserted that Bachmurski took a particular interest in Jade, and that she was the subject of the photos when Bachmurski took photos. "This is not a grandpa, this is not an uncle, this is not a good friend of the family," Brown said, "this is a man who took a particular interest in a young girl who showed up on his farm." Brown then presented an audio clip of Bachmurski's interview with Agent Turbett, in which, when asked, Bachmurski did not deny having sent inappropriate photos of himself, Bachmurski claimed he did not remember if he had done it, Brown asserted that there was no reason for Bachmurski to be equivocal if "he did not do it." Brown claimed that Jade would have reached out to someone she knew by now, calling The Defense's arguments "grasping at straws" and stating that none of the presented arguments had any credence. He went on to criticize the speculative nature of Defense's approach regarding communications between "Rain," Bachmurski, and LaDawn. He also called the "Christina Wilson information" and the report regarding Samantha Coday "red herrings" and "not credible." Brown finished his rebuttal, telling that he did not expect the jury to "lower the burden of proof," but to find that The State had met the burden. 1:03 - The jury was directed out of the courtroom for deliberation at 1:06 p.m. 4:56 p.m. - The jury returned to the courtroom to announce its unanimous verdict after deliberation. The Defendant James David Bachmurski was found guilty of the murder of Jade Colvin.