GRAFTON, N.D. (AP) - A state’s attorney in North Dakota has changed the charges against a Grand Forks lawyer accused of conspiring with two other men to kill a confidential informant.
Walsh County prosecutor Barbara Whelan has amended the murder conspiracy charge against 72-year-old Henry Howe to tampering with a witness or informant.
The maximum punishment for a murder conspiracy charge is life in prison, while conspiring to tamper with a witness is punishable by up to five years in prison.
Whelan could not be reached for comment. Defense attorney David Thompson provided The Associated Press with records showing the amended charges.
Thompson says the case against Howe should be dismissed because the credibility of the prosecutor’s main witness is questionable. He says the witness has lied to police several times in the past.
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