Ken Andersen Did Not Get A Fair Trial

Wednesday’s blog posted the very long Ground F that is a critical list of how after Ken’s family and friends hired a very competent lawyer, Will Bulmer, he was left with a totally different lawyer, Rory Durkin, who was not as knowledgeable or passionate for his defense.

This would be tantamount to doing poorly in school, having a teacher all of a sudden who took great interest in you, and then seeing them leave and a different one who really didn’t care take over. The difference here is Ken’s life hung in the balance. The opposite happened for the prosecution as Mike Fritz brought in Al Zdrazil to help him.

Here are the list of irregularities that Ground F covered. The bottom line though is that this is mainly about money. Ken’s family and friends ran short of being able to buy a proper defense against the DA who had unlimited funds to pursue this case.

1. The Judge would not allow the defense to see the “discovery”, or what they had as far as evidence. 

2. When Rory Durkin took over the case he was unprepared to defend Ken. This was clear to the Judge and the DA. They knew they did not have to prove their case.

3. Durkin did not call several key witnesses and was caught off guard by the trial date. The Judge warned him he was unprepared but did nothing. A public defender would have done a better job.

4. Durkin was incompetent in cross-examining witnesses. He seemed to be on the prosecution’s side sometimes.

5. Durkin did not make a point of how Leslie Fain and others went back to the crime scene and made changes there.

6. Durkin botched his interview with Wanda Nelson who lied under oath. He repeated this same thing with Nicole Knudson.

7. Durkin could have easily destroyed the motive the DA gave by PROVING Ken did not steal the ATV in Roseau County. He did not even try. Leslie Fain admitted she knew Chad and Thomas went back and stole the ATV.

8. Durkin could have easily shown the jury the rifle in the courtroom did not kill Chad.

9. The wolf show was never verified.

10. Thomas Covington was left alone to join the Navy and keep his secrets.

11. The numerous photographs could have been used in an expert way to show Ken did not walk over to Chad’s maple stand that morning. 

In conclusion, Ken Andersen had a very ineffective defense and that is SUPPOSED to be grounds for a new trial. At this point the State Supreme Court of Minnesota disagrees and is satisfied with the trial. This is perfectly insane.