Polson stabbing trial begins

POLSON — The trial of Aaron Jess Spang, the 18-year-old Polson man accused of stabbing to death his mother’s boyfriend, began Monday in District Court.

Spang has pleaded not guilty to deliberate homicide, a felony that could carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. He has also pleaded not guilty to the lesser charge of possession of dangerous drugs.

The accusations against Spang stem from a Nov. 27, 2010 altercation in which Spang allegedly stabbed Frank He Does It, his mother’s live-in boyfriend, nine times with a carving knife.

According to court documents, Spang’s mother, Vicki One Bear, had kicked her son out of their D-Street home the prior evening after she discovered that he was growing marijuana plants in his bedroom.

Spang allegedly became angry when he returned home early the next morning and discovered he was locked out. Court documents state that after sneaking back into the residence through an unlocked window Spang confronted his mother and He Does It, who were asleep in bed.

Court documents state that Spang and He Does It began to fight and the altercation escalated until Spang retrieved the knife he allegedly used to kill the 32-year-old victim.

More than one hundred potential jurors showed up for jury selection in District Court Monday morning. While questioning the group, County Attorney Mitch Young asked potential jurors questions about their attitudes toward marijuana and their conceptions of what constitutes self-defense.

A woman who said that she had “very strong feelings about what’s going on with our legislature with marijuana” was not dismissed, but a man associated with local law enforcement was.

Eight women and four men were selected to return later that afternoon to serve as jurors.

In an opening statement for state prosecution, County Attorney Mark Russell painted Spang as an angry young man who took his frustration out on his mother’s boyfriend, and then attempted to flee the scene of the crime.

“Nine stabs wounds,” Russell said to the jury, “That’s how many times the defendant stabbed his mother’s boyfriend.”

He described Spang’s tantrum-like act, which included screaming profanities and splattering steak sauce on the walls of his home before allegedly stabbing the victim. The autopsy report, Russell said, would show that the He Does It was the victim of stab wounds up to six inches deep.

Russell told the jury that the state would prove that the defendant caused the death of He Does It and that he did it knowingly, the standard required for a conviction on deliberate homicide charges. He also said that the state would prove that Spang possessed over 300 grams of marijuana; far more than the 60 grams needed to convict on the drug charges.

In his opening statement, defense attorney Edmund Sheehy told the jury that to fully understand Spang’s actions, they would have to look into his past.

“To understand November 2010 you have to go back to 2002,” Sheehy said, “Back to when Vicki One Bear moved here with her only son, Aaron Jess Spang.”

Sheehy said that One Bear struggled with alcohol dependence and abuse of prescription medications, and that Spang often visited his father and grandmother to escape his mother’s issues.

He told the jury that during one such visit, One Bear crashed the car that her son had purchased with his own money. When Spang returned, she lied to him about what happened and repeatedly reneged on her promise to buy him a new one.

“It was Aaron Jess Spang who bought all the food, did all the cooking. It was Jess who was having to take care of his mother,” Sheehy said.

Far from being unaware of the marijuana plants, Sheehy said One Bear and Spang had an agreement that he could keep the plants in the house through the end of December. According to Sheehy, Spang did not smoke marijuana but was growing the plants to try to make some money to move out of the house.

Sheehy said Spang’s unstable home life was further complicated when One Bear invited He Does It, a man she had met on Facebook, to move in.

According to the defense attorney, on the morning of the incident, He Does It tackled Spang several times before Spang retrieved the knife.

“The defendant picks up a knife because he wanted Mr. He Does It out of his house,” Sheehy said.

The state commenced their case by calling Becky Depoe, a 911 dispatch operator for the Lake County Sheriff’s office.

Depoe testified that on the morning of Nov. 27, she received a 911 call in which the caller stated her name, “Vicki One Bear” and then hung up.

Russell entered into evidence a recording of the calls placed to 911 by One Bear and others in her residence. The series of calls included multiple hang-ups from One Bear and the subsequent, unsuccessful attempts by Depoe and Keith Deetz, another operator, to get back in contact with her.

In a call received shortly after 6:45 a.m., One Bear can be heard telling dispatch “my son is drunk.” A few seconds later she is heard saying “stop it, put that away,” over background yelling.

After several more hang-ups, the operators received a call from He Does It at approximately 6:53 a.m. He told them “he has a knife on me,” and moments later shouted, “Can you just get here please? He’s coming at me again.”

Only seconds later the victim can be heard in the background saying, “Vicki, Vicki get him off me.” Another voice, which was later identified as Kyler Rutz’s, a friend of Spang’s who was also living in One Bear’s residence, is heard yelling, “don’t f------ hit your mom, dude!”

When the recording finished, Depoe confirmed to Russell that it was an accurate representation of the calls her office received on the morning of the alleged crime.

After hearing from Robert Wright, a Polson Police Officer who responded to the D-street residence, the state called One Bear as its third witness.

When asked by Russell if she saw her son in the courtroom, One Bear replied, “I do.”

Turning toward the defendant, One Bear said, “My first love, I dreamed about him when I was pregnant. I knew it was going to be a boy.”

Russell inquired about how she met He Does It and One Bear explained that he had added her as a friend on Facebook because they both grew up on the Crow reservation.

One Bear said she felt “scandalous” inviting him to move in, having only met him once, but she felt that the situation would not cause problems.

“I mean, he called me beautiful and told me he loved me,” One Bear said. “No one taught me any etiquette about how long to wait. I was impressed that he loved me in such a short time.”

Judge C.B. McNeil called a recess at five minutes before 5 p.m. The trial is expected to continue throughout the week.

Follow the story online at www.leaderadvertiser.com