Werner Kunkel at his Jan. 7 evidentiary hearing for a new trial at the Ramsey County Courthouse, seen here seated between (left to right) attorneys Bruce Ringstrom Jr. and James Mayer. His 1995 conviction of the murder of Gilbert Fassett in 1986 was overturned on March 2 by Judge Daniel Narum. (Photo by Louise Oleson)
NORTH DAKOTA – On Monday, March 2, after a two-day evidentiary hearing that began on Jan. 7 at the Ramsey County Courthouse, the 1995 conviction of Devils Lake resident Werner Kunkel for the murder of Gilbert Fassett in 1986 has been overturned. The state will next determine whether it will appeal, retry Kunkel, or dismiss the charges.
Judge Daniel Narum of the Southeast District, who presided over the hearing, made the ruling, based on the case made by Kunkel’s legal team, who alleged that evidence from the original trial had been suppressed, including witness statements that claim Fassett was still alive past the date the state said he had been killed, as well as newly-presented forensic evidence that cast doubt on Kunkel’s guilt.
Kunkel was convicted in August of 1995 for the brutal murder of Fassett, whose body was found Aug. 10, 1986 at Ski Jump Hill on the Spirit Lake Reservation. Fassett had been stabbed over 100 times. Kunkel was arrested for the murder in January of 1995. During trial, the prosecution presented circumstantial evidence that Fassett had last been seen alive with Kunkel on Aug. 1, 1986 and relied heavily on witnesses who testified that Kunkel had admitted to killing Fassett. Judge Lonnie Olson, who would normally preside, recused himself as he was the prosecutor in the original trial in 1995 and served as a witness for the hearing.
On Monday, Kunkel’s attorneys with the Great North Innocence Project (GNIP), which included its legal director James Mayer, Dane DeKrey and Bruce Ringstrom Jr., announced the news on GNIP’s website that the Ramsey County District Court overturned Kunkel’s conviction. The nonprofit organization conducts in-depth investigations and provide pro bono representation for clients they believe to have been wrongfully convicted. Kunkel has always maintained his innocence in the death of Fassett.
According to the GNIP press release, upon learning that his conviction was vacated, Kunkel said, “I refuse to let three decades of wrongful imprisonment define me. I am hurt, but I am not angry. I am looking only to heal, to spend time with my family, and to be the best man that I can be. I am grateful to the Court and to my lawyers at the Great North Innocence Project and Ringstrom DeKrey.”
In the order vacating Kunkel’s conviction, Judge Narum found that “the state failed to disclose exculpatory evidence entitling Kunkel to relief” and that “the evidence as a whole, including the newly discovered evidence, shows Kunkel cannot be the person committing the crime in the state’s timeline.”
After receiving the judge’s order, Mayer said, “This case illustrates yet again the risk of locking someone up for life based on questionable testimony from jailhouse informants. Helping Werner and his family get justice has been the honor of a lifetime.”
After several failed attempts at obtaining post-conviction relief on his own, Kunkel contacted GNIP who agreed to take his case.
Kunkel’s new legal team presented the new forensic evidence contradicting the prosecution’s timeline of the crime and demonstrated that they committed a Brady violation by withholding exculpatory witness statements from Kunkel’s defense counsel. Finally, they also presented evidence that the prosecution allowed critical untested crime scene evidence, including Mr. Fassett’s clothing, to be lost or intentionally destroyed, thus preventing testing and analysis that could reveal the identity of the true perpetrator. After hearing the evidence, the court issued a detailed 60-page order, concluding that Kunkel did not receive a fair trial and that his conviction cannot stand.
GNIP and its pro bono partners at Ringstrom DeKrey have filed a motion seeking Kunkel’s immediate release while the state decides whether it will appeal, retry him, or dismiss the charges.
When reached for comment, Daniel Howell, State’s Attorney for Ramsey County, said he expected that Kunkel would likely remain in custody while he has some time to consider whether to appeal the ruling. “Or we start looking at a new trial, which, without any physical evidence or witnesses that are still alive and remember these days, I don’t know that a trial’s very likely at this point.”
However, Howell added that since Kunkel isn’t a U.S. citizen, there is the possibility that he could be facing deportation back to Germany. “Who knows with how the federal government is doing that these days, if they do it immediately or have him in ICE holding for a while.”
