North Dakota
Grand Forks prosecutor asks North Dakota Supreme Court to reverse DUI test suppression in fatal crash case
NORTH DAKOTA — A Grand Forks prosecutor argued in front of the North Dakota Supreme Court Monday, Sept. 8, that a district judge’s decision to allow suppression of DUI test results was the wrong choice. She asked the Supreme Court to reverse it, so the evidence can be used at trial.
Travis Dean Bell, 44, of Fordville, is charged with Class A felony criminal vehicular homicide and Class C felony criminal vehicular injury. The Class A felony charge has a maximum 20-year sentence.
Bell was charged with these crimes following a June 2024 Grand Forks County crash that
took the life of 6-year-old Katarina Louthain
and seriously injured her mother, Nicole Louthain.
The initial decision to suppress evidence in the case was
made by Judge Theodore Sandberg in March,
a couple of weeks after
the defense — which filed the motion to suppress — and prosecution gave arguments during a hearing.
Key issues argued at the time by Mark Friese, Bell’s attorney, were that since Bell was not charged with driving under the influence (DUI), he was not subject to the state’s implied consent law and, therefore, the arresting officer was wrong to tell him he could be charged with another crime if he refused the test.
Friese argued that by saying this, the officer unlawfully coerced Bell into taking the test, when the officer should have instead requested a warrant for it, as is standard in suspected DUIs that result in injury or death.
Rachel Egstad, an assistant Grand Forks County state’s attorney, is the prosecutor in Bell’s case and filed the Supreme Court appeal following Sandberg’s decision. In her argument Monday, Egstad said when an officer arrives on scene, they work their investigation “from the ground up.”
The arresting officer — North Dakota Highway Patrol Trooper Austin Erickson — was operating with the information he had, and didn’t assume there had been an injury or death, so he carried out a standard DUI arrest and gave the standard implied consent advisory.
“He doesn’t know the whole story; he has no idea what happened,” Egstad said.
She said giving the advisory, and warning of the potential consequences for failing to take a DUI test in spite of state law that requires it of motorists, is not itself coercion.
Egstad referred to Sandberg’s analysis, which she said implied giving the advisory twice was coercive; however, she said the advisory was repeated only because Bell asked for it to be. He was confused about the difference between the preliminary breath test and the one he was asked to do afterward, once he arrived at the jail, Egstad said.
“I don’t know how Mr. Bell can complain about being coerced,” she said.
Drew Hushka — representing Bell in the Supreme Court appeal — argued on Monday that though it’s not wrong to provide an advisory, it’s wrong to provide one inaccurately. He said the implied consent law only applies to DUIs, not criminal vehicular injury or homicide.
However, Egstad and Hushka agreed that driving under the influence is an included offense in the definition of criminal vehicular injury and homicide. To be charged with either crime, someone must be suspected of driving under the influence and there must be an injury or death. Egstad said the crimes and their related statutes do not exist separately from each other.
Hushka argued that Bell was misled and, because of that, he could not voluntarily consent to DUI testing.
He also said that, according to Erickson’s testimony, when he was dispatched to the crash, the trooper received a report that a child on scene was receiving CPR.
“In other words, at the very initial call, he understood that there was a serious injury,” Hushka said.
In his own words, Erickson said he was “running code,” which means his emergency lights and sirens were active as he traveled to the scene, Hushka said.
He said Erickson also described the scene when he arrived as “hectic,” multiple people were stopping by to help and there were various law enforcement officers and paramedics on scene. He said everybody was scrambling, just trying to preserve life, Hushka said.
“When he arrived at the scene, he understood that they were trying to save life, that this was a death or serious bodily injury case,” Hushka said.
When Erickson arrested Bell, he said it would be a death or serious injury charge, according to his testimony cited in the hearing Monday. Egstad said Erickson didn’t actually know at the time if that would be true, and troopers ultimately do not make charging decisions.
Sandberg ruled that Erickson wasn’t credible, but Egstad argued the judge made assumptions about what Erickson would have known when he got to the scene.
“Ultimately, there needs to be a standard for law enforcement to follow when it comes to implied consent,” Egstad said.
North Dakota
Challengers declare victory after ND Supreme Court rules against Legislature’s attempt to alter term limits
BISMARCK — A constitutional ballot measure to amend the state’s term limits law as proposed by the Legislature will not appear on November’s ballot, the North Dakota Supreme Court ruled Thursday, siding with petitioners who argued the Legislature exceeded its authority and violated the state constitution in proposing the changes.
“The people’s voice was heard,” Grand Forks County Commissioner Terry Bjerke said in reaction to the news.
Bjerke was a member of the sponsoring committee behind the successful 2022 effort to pass a term limits initiative, which amended the state constitution by capping legislative term limits to eight years in the House and eight years in the Senate. The amendment, which became article XV of the state constitution, also included a clause barring the Legislature from making constitutional changes to term limits.
During the 2025 session, however, lawmakers narrowly approved Senate Concurrent Resolution 4008, in which the legislature proposed Constitutional Measure 1, a ballot measure to amend the term limits language to allow legislators to decide in which chamber they want to serve their 16 years, and to repeal the clause limiting the legislative assembly’s authority to propose an amendment to alter or repeal term limits.
Bjerke and former Minot legislator Oley Larsen brought the lawsuit challenging the validity of the Legislature’s action in January, and the state Supreme Court
heard oral arguments in the case
this spring.
“Those term limits may only be altered by a measure proposed by the people rather than the Legislative Assembly. And yet a few years later, the Legislative Assembly is doing what they are prohibited from doing,” attorney Zachary Wallen argued on Bjerke and Larsen’s behalf.
Tanner Ecker / The Bismarck Tribune
The Legislature’s attorneys argued the clause prohibiting legislative proposals to alter the constitutional term limits language “infringes on our republican form of government” by “limiting the people’s ability to vote on amendments proposed by their elected officials.”
Justice Jon Jensen seemed skeptical of that argument during the April 2 hearing, questioning whether a second vote was appropriate.
“The public did speak on this. The public spoke on it when it passed the original constitutional amendment and they said, ‘Legislature, you don’t even get to propose a change.’ They have already spoken on it,” Jensen said. “You want a second shot, or a second bite at the apple, not a first one, a second.”
In Thursday’s ruling, all five justices sided with Bjerke and Larsen.
“We … conclude the Legislative Assembly’s adoption of S.C.R. 4008 violated N.D. Const. art. XV … and declare S.C.R. 4008 and Constitutional Measure 1 void … We enjoin the Secretary of State from placing Constitutional Measure 1 on the November 2026 general election ballot,” the ruling said.
Bjerke thanked the legal team that worked on behalf of their lawsuit, and said he was grateful the court reached the conclusion it did.
“I’m thrilled that what the people voted on and approved has been validated,” Bjerke said.
He added that the Legislature had “multiple opportunities” to address term limits prior to 2022’s initiated measure and chose not to, and gave a nod to the country’s coming milestone and the process by which voters expressed their support for term limits.
“We’ve lasted 250 years,” Bjerke said. “I have two words for those elected leaders who think they aren’t: everyone’s replaceable.”
North Dakota
Fargo woman convicted in North Dakota fraud case now faces charges in Minnesota: A deeper dive
FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) – A North Dakota woman who was sentenced to 180 days in jail in Cass County for defrauding healthcare providers and Medicaid programs is now facing additional fraud charges in Minnesota.
Christine Marie Pryor, 55, pleaded guilty in November 2024 to theft by deception involving more than $50,000. She was sentenced to first serve 180 days with a 3-year sentence suspended. She received credit for 44 days already served.
Pryor was ordered to pay $82,584.78 in restitution to Southeast Human Services in Fargo, where she worked between 2018 and 2019.
How the scheme unfolded
According to court documents, Pryor worked at multiple healthcare facilities in North Dakota and Minnesota between 2018 and 2023, using the identities and credentials of three licensed professionals without their knowledge. She submitted fraudulent Capella University diplomas and transcripts to gain employment.
Investigators say Pryor admitted she searched state licensing websites for therapists who shared her first name, then used those therapists’ last names and license numbers when applying for jobs.
At Southeast Human Services, where she worked as a Licensed Addiction Counselor, Pryor earned $55,584.82 while providing therapy services to approximately 150 patients. She also opened her own counseling center, NIAM Brain Injury Center, in Fargo between 2020 and 2021, and worked at The Lotus Center in Moorhead, Minnesota, from 2021 to 2023.
Court documents say the three licensed professionals whose identities were used told investigators they had no knowledge of Pryor’s actions and did not give her permission to use their information.
Two additional charges against Pryor in North Dakota, unauthorized use of personal identifying information, were dismissed on motion of the state.
Additional charges in Minnesota
Pryor is also facing charges in Minnesota. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced on Tuesday charges against Pryor in Clay County District Court for six theft offenses and six identity theft offenses related to defrauding Minnesota’s Medicaid program of more than $150,000.
According to the Minnesota complaint, Pryor claimed to provide psychotherapy and alcohol and drug counseling services to Medicaid recipients despite having no license or credentials to do so. Prosecutors allege she used the credentials and identities of three licensed professionals while claiming to provide Medicaid-funded services to 169 clients.
The Minnesota charges were filed as part of National Health Care Fraud Takedown Day, a joint effort involving the Department of Justice and more than 40 state Medicaid Fraud Control Units.
Copyright 2026 KVLY. All rights reserved.
North Dakota
NCAA Set to Change Unpopular Football Rule Just in Time for North Dakota State’s FBS Jump
North Dakota State playing in the FCS playoffs and College Football Playoff in back-to-back years? It’s likelier than you think.
That’s because on Wednesday, according to a report from Ross Dellenger of Yahoo! Sports, the NCAA Division I cabinet voted to repeal a rule that effectively barred teams transitioning from FCS to FBS from playing in postseason games in their first FBS seasons. The Bison are making that move along with Sacramento State in 2026.
The reported change has been a long time coming; the rule has hampered teams from immediate bowl eligibility for decades. Its good intentions of dissuading teams from rashly making the FCS-to-FBS leap have been rendered obsolete in recent years by the fact that programs generally arrive in FBS more prepared than ever before.
Consider the number of new FBS teams that have had to work within the provision in the past decade alone
That list includes: Liberty (home for the holidays at 6–6 in 2018), James Madison (8–3 in 2022 under coach Curt Cignetti, and barely able to play in a bowl at 11–1 in ’23 due to a lack of bowl-eligible teams), Jacksonville State (8–4 in ’23 before backing in like the Dukes), Missouri State (7–5 in 2025, also backed in) and Delaware (6–6 in ’25, ditto).
James Madison in particular became a cause célèbre in ’23 because it started the season 10-0, climbing as high as No. 18 in the AP Poll in mid-November. Then-Virginia attorney general Jason Miyares bandied about suing the NCAA before the Dukes lost 26–23 to Appalachian State, an event that caused the program to back off and accept a bid to play Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl. James Madison lost that game 31–21, by which time Cignetti had left for Indiana.
There was a time when the FCS-to-FBS jump was an imposing one, and the NCAA did not want to incentivize making it lightly—not even a proud Florida A&M program could make a mid-2000s attempt at a jump stick. However, the Flames, Dukes and other teams have shown it’s not so great a climb for programs with the right resources and management.
Now the Bison and the Hornets stand to benefit.
How far can North Dakota State and Sacramento State go in the near term?
The Bison opened 12–0 last year before a shock loss to Illinois State in the FCS playoffs’ second round, so that question may answer itself. North Dakota State does not play a single Power 4 team—a potential strength-of-schedule albatross if it has designs on really surging. A potential roadblock: the fact that the Bison have to visit the Mountain West’s two favorites, UNLV (Oct. 10) and New Mexico (Oct. 24).
It’s a different story for the Hornets, a 7–5 squad a year ago whose move to the FBS is widely seen as a gamble on their growth potential. Sacramento State also does not play a major-conference team, but has a breakneck travel schedule ahead of it—the Hornets will visit Ypsilanti, Mich.; Bowling Green, Ohio; Muncie, Ind.; Mount Pleasant, Mich. and Honolulu. Combine that with a first-year coach—Oakland native and ex-MC Hammer choreographer Alonzo Carter—and it could be a long FBS debut in California’s capital.
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