Witness, juror fees raise cost of Guill trial

The longest trial ever in Sanders County, which found Douglas Guill guilty of all five felonies last week, came at a high cost. Clerk of District Court Dianne Rummel said she wouldn't be surprised if the cost amounted to around $25,000 because of the many witness fees and juror compensations.

“The state will reimburse a lot of this,” Rummel said. “But you know, they get their money from the same taxpayers.” Rummel said she would seek as much reimbursement money as the state will provide.

She said witnesses are paid a fee of $10 per day, plus the cost of travel. She said witnesses, such as Dr. Karen Mielke, whose medical testimony was a large part of the state's argument, are paid more as experts. Also, Mielke's travel costs were higher because she lives in Minnesota and she testified at two different dates.

Because Guill was able to afford his own legal counsel, the county was not responsible to provide him with a public defender. Rummel said this would have greatly increased the costs because the county would then have had to pay for an attorney and the witness fees for the defense.

As for the jurors, all who showed to report on the day of juror selection were paid $12 for their day in court and compensated for travel. Those who were selected earned $25 per day and 50.5 cents per mile of travel. Rummel said that with the size of Sanders County, it wasn't unusual for some jurors to drive over 100 miles round-trip each day.

As Rummel crunched the numbers, she guessed she would be paying out more than $3,500 in jury fees alone and more than $1,500 to those who came to jury selection, but didn't serve. She estimated that travel costs would range between $3,600 and $3,700 for mileage.

Despite the high dollar amounts Sanders County will be shelling out to jurors, Rummel said people shouldn't think that serving on juries is not a lucrative business.

“These people are taking time off work to serve on the jury,” Rummel said. “No one's going to get rich doing this.”

Rummel said the duty a juror performs is an important one that is vital to the legal system and that there is no way she can completely pay them for what their time and effort is worth. She said all she can do is keep the jurors happy and help the process to go smoothly.

“Financially, I can't make it worth their while, but it's a duty and a responsibility,” Rummel said. “But because it can be difficult, all I can do is try to make the experience as enjoyable and comfortable as possible.”

Rummel said she spent her office's petty cash to provide the jury with bottled water and snacks, such as bagels, doughnuts and fruit, throughout the more than two-week trial. She said that one morning, when the jury was to meet at 7:30 a.m., she ordered biscuits and gravy breakfasts for them to have when they arrived at the courthouse.

Assistant Montana District Attorney Dan Guzynski served as special prosecutor to help Sanders County Attorney Coleen Magera with the Guill trial. Magera said Guzynski's assistance was invaluable to the state's case against Guill in the long and unusual trial.

“This is a case unlike anything I've dealt with,” Magera said. “This is why the Attorney General's Office helps the smaller offices. This is the longest trial Sanders County has ever had.”

Magera said there was no additional cost to Sanders County for Guzynski's assistance in the trial.