FARGO, N.D. (AP) - A Watford City man questioned by police investigating a suspected murder-for-hire scheme in Washington state wants a new lawyer to represent him on illegal weapons charges in North Dakota.
U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland in Bismarck on Monday set an April 21 hearing for James Henrikson, who’s charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. Henrikson says he is unsure of the competency of his court-appointed lawyer.
Authorities said Henrikson had business dealings in the North Dakota oil patch with Doug Carlile, who was shot and killed by an intruder on Dec. 15 at his Spokane, Wash., home. Henrikson was questioned by Spokane police and told them that Carlile owed him nearly $1.9 million and that he was angry with Carlile, but he denied being involved in Carlile’s death.
Timothy Suckow, of Spokane, is charged with Carlile’s slaying. Henrikson has not been charged in the Washington case.
Agents searched Henrikson’s Watford City residence in northwestern North Dakota on Jan. 13 and discovered a black gun safe inside the bathroom of the master bedroom. After receiving the combination to the lock from the safe manufacturer, they found several firearms and a large amount of ammunition, court documents show.
A public defender attorney representing Henrikson filed a motion last week to suppress evidence and essentially postpone the scheduled April 1 trial date on the illegal weapons charge. The judge postponed the trial so he could decide on that motion.
Henrikson said in a hand-written document filed Friday that the motion to suppress evidence was made without his approval and he did not want to delay the trial. He added that his court-appointed lawyer told him he was guilty.
“Hearing an (sic) statement like that from an attorney that is suppose (sic) to be representing me made me very concerned of weather (sic) or not I could trust the counsel to prove my innocence in this case,” Henrikson wrote.
Public defender William Schmidt said in his response that he would understand if a judge grants Henrikson’s wish, but stands by his motion to throw out evidence involving the safe in Henrikson’s residence.
“I do not disagree that the meetings we had … included statements by Mr. Henrikson that he wanted his trial to move forward on April 1, 2014,” Schmidt wrote. “However, based on my review of the discovery, the position taken by Mr. Henrikson relative to the access to the safe and the apparent lack of any fingerprints on the firearms that were seized from the safe warranted, in my opinion, filing of the motion to suppress.”
Henrikson also is under investigation for allegedly defrauding an energy company owned by Tex Hall, chairman of Three Affiliated Tribes in northwestern North Dakota, according to court documents in that case.
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