North Dakota
Lawyers clash over claims that prosecutors concealed important evidence in 1986 North Dakota murder case
DEVILS LAKE, N.D. — Prosecutors told the lawyer of a man convicted of a brutal 1986 stabbing murder that all of the state’s evidence in the case against his client was available to the defense under his office’s “open file” policy.
Now, almost 40 years after the murder, lawyers for Werner Kunkel, who is serving a life sentence, are arguing that the prosecution concealed key evidence that could have established Kunkel’s innocence.
Todd Burianek, Kunkel’s trial lawyer, maintains in court papers that statements from three witnesses — if they had been made available to the defense — would have enabled him to better investigate and question the witnesses in the 1995 trial.
All three witnesses gave statements to the prosecution saying they had seen the murder victim in the case, Gilbert Fassett, alive after Aug. 1, 1986. The date is crucial because multiple trial witnesses testified that they last saw Fassett alive that night while drinking with Kunkel in Devils Lake bars.
“As I looked into the case, I was focused on any evidence that might have suggested that Mr. Fassett was alive after August 1, 1986,” Burianek said in a sworn statement in support of Kunkel’s petition for relief, which if granted could result in a new trial or dismissal of the charge.
Burianek’s statement was filed May 23 in Ramsey County District Court along with a brief by his current defense lawyers, Dane DeKrey of Moorhead and James Mayer of the Great North Innocence Project in Minneapolis.
Kunkel, who after his conviction for Fassett’s murder changed his last name to Rümmer, is serving his life sentence at the James River Correctional Center in Jamestown. He was once granted parole on the condition that he be sent to Germany, where he was born and has citizenship, but the parole board rescinded the decision.
The Forum wrote about controversies in the case in a special series published in July 2024 titled
Who Killed Eddie & Gilbert?
There were no eyewitnesses in the case. Kunkel’s conviction relied heavily on prison and jail informants — witnesses
Kunkel argued had ulterior motives for implicating him,
including lenient treatment for themselves or
settling a grudge against him.
Studies have shown that “jailhouse snitches” are often unreliable and their testimony has resulted in wrongful convictions.
In his recent statement, Burianek said he made standard discovery requests seeking, among other things, all witness statements and “whatever potentially exculpatory evidence” was in the possession of prosecutors or investigators.
Burianek was given access to case documents in the Ramsey County State’s Attorney’s Office.
“It was represented to me that this was ‘open file’ discovery,” Burianek said in his statement. “In other words, based on our communication and common practices at the time, I expected that any potentially exculpatory evidence in the possession of the State’s Attorney or law enforcement would be contained in the field that the State’s Attorney permitted me to review.”
Exculpatory evidence is any information that helps prove a defendant’s innocence in a criminal case. Prosecutors have a duty to hand over to the defense any exculpatory evidence — even without being asked — under a landmark 1963 Supreme Court case, Brady v. Maryland, which established the Brady Rule.
Doug Broden, Rümmer’s lawyer in a 2006 appeal, also said he “believed in good faith” that all of the documents had been provided earlier to Burianek by the Ramsey County State’s Attorney’s Office under its Brady Rule obligations.
The three witnesses, and other newly discovered exculpatory evidence, only became known after Kunkel’s current attorneys asked for and received the prosecution’s case file in 2023.
Contributed / North Dakota Court System
As previously reported by The Forum
, one of the newly discovered witness statements came from a National Guard member, who told investigators he picked up Fassett on Aug. 2 — a day after jurors were told that Kunkel murdered the victim. The guardsman remembered the date because he had to fly out later that day for training, an obligation that was confirmed by Guard records.
“The state compensated for the lack of eyewitness testimony or physical evidence against Werner by repeating for the jury the mantra that no one saw Fassett alive after he was seen with Werner on the night of August 1, 1986,” his lawyers wrote in a brief.
The statements by “three different witnesses who independently reported seeing Fassett alive after that night, puts the lie to the state’s primary trial theme,” his lawyers added.
In response to defense allegations that the state concealed exculpatory evidence, Daniel Howell of the Ramsey County State’s Attorney’s Office denied that prosecutors suppressed evidence.
“While the State cannot claim that this evidence would not have had some benefit to Petitioner at trial, its overall effect on the result of trial would have been negligible in light of the other evidence presented at trial and would not have affected the verdict,” Howell wrote.
The claims raised in the latest appeal could have been raised at trial or in earlier appeals, including the evidence discovered in 2023, under a discovery request, Howell argued.
“This request could have been made at any time since Kunkel’s conviction in 1995, and an attorney exercising reasonable diligence at Kunkel’s first and second post-conviction efforts would have done so,” Howell wrote.
“To rely on a case file that has changed possession several times over many years, without reviewing any possible discrepancies between said files and the State’s evidence and case file might raise issues of ineffective assistance of counsel,” Howell added.
The prosecution also argued in its brief that the issues raised in the latest appeal already had been litigated, and their assertion now is a misuse of process.
In rebuttal, defense lawyers argue in their brief that prosecutors have a duty to turn over any exculpatory evidence, regardless of whether the defense demands it, and Howell is trying to “shift responsibility for its due process violation onto Werner,” a “misapplication” of the Brady Rule.
“I believe that having the Brady material available to me would likely have made a difference at trial,” Burianek said in his statement. “Without it, I was unfairly hamstrung in my ability to respond to the State’s primary theme: that no one saw Mr. Fassett alive after the night of August 1, 1986.”
A clarifying statement by the pathologist who performed the autopsy on Fassett presented by defense lawyers in the latest appeal also helped to prove innocence, Rümmer’s lawyers argue. The liver showed no evidence of alcohol, and there was no detectable amount of alcohol in his system, according to the autopsy.
“Given Fassett’s obvious state of severe intoxication on the evening of August 1, 1986, the new evidence establishes that Werner did not kill Fassett that night as maintained by the state,” DeKrey and Mayer wrote in their brief.
In response, Howell said Rümmer’s lawyers failed to address “other possibilities to explain the lack of alcohol in Fassett’s liver.”
Prosecutors presented little physical evidence in their case. One critical piece was a bloody shirt Fassett was wearing when his body was discovered at Ski Jump Hill, a landmark on Spirit Lake Nation near Fort Totten.
Mayer and DeKrey wanted to have Fassett’s clothing tested to see if it contained any DNA
from his assailant, but the shirt was no longer available. The two lawyers claimed Fassett’s clothing and other physical evidence from the scene was “intentionally destroyed” in “bad faith,” violating Rümmer’s due process rights.
Contributed
In response, Howell argued that Rümmer “raises no excuse as to why DNA testing could not have been done in prior proceedings.” DeKrey and Mayer argued that the intentional destruction of the physical evidence after trial violated local, state and federal policies and practices.
Suppression of exculpatory evidence can be grounds for prosecutorial misconduct. Lonnie Olson was the Ramsey County state’s attorney who prosecuted Rümmer. Olson, who now is a district court judge in Devils Lake, has declined to comment on the suppression allegations.
District Judge Barbara Whelan, who is seated in Grafton, is the judge handling the appeal. No hearing has been scheduled to hear the arguments.
North Dakota
The Democratic Spirit: Reflections on North Dakota History and the Declaration of Independence at 250 – America250
A state and national public forum comprising a lecture, and then a question-answer session. Kwame Anthony Appiah’s lecture commemorates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and explore its enduring significance in American life. Appiah’s scholarship on ethics, identity, and cosmopolitanism offers a unique lens for examining democratic ideals in a diverse society. By connecting these themes to North Dakota’s historical narrative, the forum fosters civic engagement, intellectual discourse, and cultural understanding within our community.
FARGO — Drivers can expect to see a slight uptick in gas prices as a result of the Iran conflict.
As of Monday, March 2, the average for North Dakota is $2.65 a gallon. While that is a $0.13 increase from a month ago, it is significantly lower than prices a year ago.
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GRAND FORKS – The Study ND, formerly Humanities North Dakota, has received $15,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts for a statewide theater and humanities initiative in recognition of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.
This commemorative investment is meant to bring historical events and figures – such as the framers of the U.S. Constitution – to life through virtual and live performances that celebrate the nation’s history.
The grant, along with funding from private sources, has made it possible for The Study ND to host “America 250” activities after the organization sustained a considerable cut in funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities last year, according to Brenna Gerhardt, The Study ND executive director.
“We absorbed a 50% budget cut, resulting in a loss of $467,645 in funding,” Gerhardt said. “As a result, we had to significantly scale back our American 250 initiatives focused on American history and civics education.”
Funds received from the National Endowment for the Arts will be used to present public readings, theatrical portrayals and guided discussions to encourage audience members to reflect on the nation’s founding in 1776 and on its democratic ideals, while engaging in contemporary conversations about civic life.
All of the programming in the series organized by The Study ND, titled “American Heroes,” will be livestreamed statewide.
In the grant application submitted to the National Endowment for the Arts, “we framed the project around a simple idea: democracy requires more than information, it requires citizens who can think historically, listen well, and argue in good faith,” Gerhardt said.
“This series uses living history performances to bring consequential figures into the room, then turns the room into a civic space through moderated dialogue and related public events. We define ‘heroism’ as civic courage under pressure, the willingness to contend with hard truths, and the capacity to enlarge a community’s moral imagination,” she said.
“The project does not ask audiences to agree on a single interpretation of a figure. It invites them to grapple with complexity together, and to connect the past to the responsibilities of the present.”
When Gerhardt and her colleagues received the application for grant proposals from the National Endowment for the Arts, “we were already planning a line-up of America 250 events and it fit perfectly with what we were already planning, so then we just wrote the grant,” she said.
Private funds, including matching funds from the Bismarck-based Tom and Frances Leach Foundation, have also been provided for this project.
Details about all the events will probably be posted on the website
www.TheStudyND.org
in March, Gerhardt said.
The America 250 events, which are planned to take place at Bismarck State College, are 5-6 p.m. July 8, “Reading of the Declaration of Independence, with John Adams,” and 6-7:30 p.m. July 9, “Alexander Hamilton Speaks,” both performed by William Chrystal.
The Living History programs are planned for 7-8:15 p.m. Sept. 17, “Thomas Paine,” performed by Doug Mishler, and Oct. 6, 7-8:15 p.m, “Frederick Douglass,” performed by Nathan Richardson. Both will be moderated by Susan Frontczak.
The performers Chrystal and Richardson live in Virginia, Frontczak in Colorado,and Mishler in Nevada.
Another program, “Hemingway and Gellhorn,” is set for Sept. 16-18 at Bismarck State College, Gerhardt said. “It is part of our broader Chautauqua/living history programming connected to America 250 … (and) will feature performances and discussion centered on Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn, using their lives and writing as a way to explore major questions about American identity, war reporting, public memory, and the stories we tell about freedom, conflict and responsibility.
“What I am excited about with this event is that it gives us a way to approach America 250 beyond founding-era material. In other words, it helps us show the American story is not just about 1776, but also about the generations that followed and how Americans wrestled with democracy, power, truth and moral courage.”
This program “expands the initiative beyond commemoration into reflection, dialogue and interpretation, which is where the humanities are especially valuable,” she said. “It helps us reach audiences who may be drawn in through literature, journalism and performance, not only traditional history events.”
The Hemingway and Gellhorn program fits in with America 250 in that “it broadens the frame and adds depth to the larger effort.”
Gerhardt is hoping that these activities will give participants “a better understanding of all the debates and issues going on when our country was founded, and how those debates are continuing today,” she said, “and just to be more thoughtful and informed citizens.”
College students and members of the general public will also be invited to participate in a workshop aimed at teaching participants how to build a living history performance from primary sources and historical research.
Last year, The Study ND lost a substantial amount of funding – nearly $468,000, about half of its annual budget – from the National Endowment for the Humanities for its fiscal 2025 year.
The loss of that much funding was discouraging, Gerhardt said. “Very much so, because we had a lot of activities planned for America 250 and we had to cancel a lot of them, or – like in this case – seek other funding, which we were lucky to get.”
The Study ND currently has four full-time employees, she said. “We eliminated a part-time marketing position after the cuts.”
A nonprofit organization, The Study ND provides civics, arts and cultural education programming. The organization’s programs – which include online classes, book talks, lectures and more – reached about 24,000 people in 2024, Gerhardt told the North Dakota Monitor in April 2025.
During the summer, the organization hosts a civics education program for high school and middle school social studies teachers, she said.
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