Court paves way for new trial for local convicted murderer

A former Bonners Ferry man remains on track for getting a new trial for the 2001 shooting death of a 21-year-old Moscow woman.

That’s because the Idaho Supreme Court has chosen not to reconsider its previous decision to grant David Meister the trial.

“Obviously I was very pleased,” said Erik Lehtinen, deputy state appellant public defender who represented Meister before the Supreme Court. “If they decided to rehear the case, it would’ve added a lot more time.”

The Supreme Court on July 7 granted Meister the new trial after ruling that evidence against another suspect, including at least two reports of a confession, was not heard during Meister’s trial. Therefore, the 26-year-old was not given the chance to provide a complete defense for the murder of Tonya Hart.

In response to the July decision, the Idaho Attorney General asked the state Supreme Court to reconsider granting the new trial. The state normally asks for re-hearings in murder cases.

Lehtinen wasn’t surprised at the court’s decision.

“Petitions for rehearing aren’t regularly granted,” he said. “Generally, you have to have a compelling reason. I didn’t think they could come up with one.”

Meister will get his new trial in Latah County, where Hart was murdered.

The other suspect in the killing was Lane Thomas, who was familiar with and grew up near the road where the shooter exited the field that night.

Meister, however, told police he had been paid $1,100 by Hart’s boyfriend, Jesse Linderman, to kill Hart but then recanted and has since maintained his innocence.

Meister was living between Bonners Ferry and Moscow when he was accused of shooting Hart twice at point-blank range on Dec. 11, 2001, when she opened the back door of her mobile home north of Moscow.