Ish will face a jury
The man charged with the death of Eugene “Lorne” Red Elk has been bound over to district court Thursday.
The decision came at the conclusion of Martin Edmo Ish’s two-day-long preliminary hearing, where prosecutors brought in 11 witnesses to testify in the six-year-old case.
Red Elk was found with severe head and chest trauma on the night of June 14, 2009, in the parking lot of Duffy’s Tavern at 1304 N. Main in Pocatello, where he worked as a part-time bouncer. He died three days later.
Prosecutors first called Dr. Charles Garrison to the stand. Garrison was asked to review the Red Elk case in 2012 by the Pocatello Police Department. He said after reviewing multiple operative, medical and police reports– he concurred with the conclusion that Red Elk died of blunt force trauma to the head.
The autopsy and Garrison’s letter were admitted as evidence, but not without opposition from the defense. Defense attorney Scott Andrews argued the doctor who performed the autopsy wasn’t credible. Andrews even cited how the doctor in question surrendered their license after a State of Idaho Board of Medicine investigation.
Judge David Kress admitted the evidence because Garrison used it to give his medical opinion. Also because Red Elk’s autopsy wasn’t one of 14 cases investigated by the State of Idaho Board of Medicine.
The second to take the stand was one of Ish’s friends, Charles Tademy. Tademy recalled Ish coming to his home at-the-time asking for a ride home. He said Ish mentioned getting kicked out of Duffy’s Tavern by a ‘Sioux guy.’
Ish didn’t mention anything about any kind of altercation, either, according to Tademy.
After taking him home, Tademy said Ish asked him to check Duffy’s Tavern to see if there were police.
The last witness the state called was Ish’s ex-girlfriend, who claimed she got a call from him the night of Red Elk’s attack. She said he said he knocked someone out.
During the closing arguments, the defense claimed the state didn’t provide enough evidence to prove Ish intended to kill Red Elk. They also cited several witnesses’ testimony to contradict one another, especially those who were at Duffy’s Tavern the night of the attack.
Prosecutors said they did supply enough evidence for a jury to answer whether Ish had intent or not. Judge David Kress made the decision to bind Ish to district court after hearing both sides’ closing arguments.
Ish will have an arraignment hearing in the next couple of weeks.
