LA PLATA COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — A judge declared another mistrial Friday in the murder trial of Mark Redwine, who is accused of killing his son in 2012.
The jury trial was scheduled to begin April 12.
In his order, District Court Judge Jeffrey Raymond Wilson said that as of Thursday, data from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment showed both one-week and two-week COVID-19 incidence rates as “very high.”
“…The Court finds that a public health emergency exists that prevents a fair jury from being safely assembled,” Wilson wrote in the order.
He set the new trial date for June 14, with a pretrial conference scheduled for May 14.
The judge said the court believes the situation will be safer once the weather warms and more vaccines are administered.
The previous mistrial in Redwine’s case was declared in November 2020.
The trial has been delayed several times since it was initially supposed to begin in 2018, including an extended delay after Redwine’s lawyer was arrested on domestic violence charges in summer 2019.
Investigators say Redwine killed his 13-year-old son, Dylan, shortly after the boy arrived for a court-ordered visit.
Dylan’s remains were found in 2013 and 2015 within 10 miles of Redwine’s home near Vallecito Reservoir northeast of Durango in La Plata County.
Redwine faces charges of second-degree murder and child abuse.