North Dakota
North Dakota Supreme Court affirms West Fargo man’s murder conviction
BISMARCK — The North Dakota Supreme Court has upheld a West Fargo man’s murder conviction.
In a ruling issued Thursday, Oct. 9, the Supreme Court said Spencer Moen’s constitutional right to confront witnesses was not violated by a district court judge’s decision to allow two of Moen’s children to testify at his trial for the August 2023 murder of his wife, Sonja Moen.
Contributed photo
In October 2024, a Cass County District Court
jury found Spencer Moen guilty
of murder for beating his wife and leaving her in a bathtub to die.
During his murder trial, two of his children, who were 5 years old and at home when their mother died, were called by the prosecution to testify.
Their testimony was provided via video from outside the courtroom after two psychologists testified that the children would likely be retraumatized if they testified in front of their father.
Following his conviction,
Spencer Moen was sentenced on Dec. 30
to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
He
appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court,
claiming his constitutional rights were violated by not having his children testify in person during his murder trial.
In oral arguments before the state Supreme Court in September, Moen’s appellate attorney, Sam Gereszek, said the district court judge should not have relied on the psychologists’ testimonies to determine if the children would be traumatized by testifying in front of their father. Instead, Gereszek said, the judge should have questioned the children directly.
In the unanimous ruling issued Thursday, the Supreme Court said that while the right to confront witnesses is of a constitutional magnitude, it is not absolute, and in appropriate cases it may give way to other legitimate interests.
The ruling also stated North Dakota Century Code permits a trial judge to allow remote electronic testimony by children if testifying in front of a defendant would traumatize a child and affect the child’s ability to communicate.
“The (district) court specifically found remote testimony was necessary because Moen’s presence in court would re-traumatize the children and impact their ability to reasonably communicate — specifically that the children ’could likely shut down, cry uncontrollably,’ ’’ the Supreme Court said in its ruling.
The high court stated specifically that the district court’s decision to allow remote testimony complied with state law and that Moen had not established that his constitutional right to confront witnesses was violated.
WEST FARGO — Three incumbents from West Fargo will run for reelection to their state legislative seats.
North Dakota Sen. Judy Lee and Reps. Jim Jonas and Austen Schauer, all Republicans, announced Sunday, Dec. 14, that they would campaign to represent District 13 in the state Legislature. The district covers much of north West Fargo.
Special to The Forum
Lee was first elected to the North Dakota Senate in 1994. Jonas and Schauer have served in the state House since 2023 and 2019, respectively.
The three ran unopposed in the 2022 election. The next election for their seats is in 2026.
Forum file photo
Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “staff.” Often, the “staff” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.
WATFORD CITY, N.D. (KUMV) – The North Dakota Department of Transportation awarded more than 150 million dollars in bids to continue expanding highway 85 south of Watford City.
More than $83.8 million will go to Park Construction out of Minneapolis for one segment. It covers about five and a half miles south of the Long X Bridge, going through another section of the badlands. It’s expected to be a three-year project due to the rough terrain.
The next segment covers 12 and a half miles south from the badlands to the highway 200 intersection. The winning bid went to Strata out of Grand Forks for $61.7 million. It will be a two-year project.
Funding for these projects were provided by both the state and federal government.
Copyright 2025 KFYR. All rights reserved.
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) — Isaiah Griffin had 18 points in Western Illinois’ 69-66 overtime win against North Dakota on…
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) — Isaiah Griffin had 18 points in Western Illinois’ 69-66 overtime win against North Dakota on Saturday.
Griffin had three steals for the Leathernecks (4-7). Karyiek Dixon scored 17 points while shooting 6 of 10 from the field and 5 for 6 from the line and added 18 rebounds. Lucas Lorenzen shot 3 for 13 (1 for 9 from 3-point range) and 7 of 8 from the free-throw line to finish with 14 points.
Eli King led the way for the Fightin’ Hawks (4-9) with 13 points, two steals and four blocks. Greyson Uelmen added 13 points for North Dakota. Garrett Anderson had 11 points and six rebounds.
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
Copyright
© 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
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