Marengo murder trial of son, mother will be separate

An Iowa County son and mother charged accused in the murder of Curtis Bailey will be tried separately and the son's trial will be moved to Scott County and start Jan. 11, 2011.

Sixth Judicial District Judge Denver Dillard granted the defendants' requests to change the venue and separate the trials of Jacob Hilgendorf, 19, of Belle Plaine, and his mother Denise Frei, 44, of Marengo, Monday during a hearing in Iowa County District Court.

The state requested Hilgendorf's trial go first and Dillard ordered Frei's trial will start sometime in early February and may also be in Scott County if court officials there agree.

Frei, Bailey's former live-in girlfriend, and son Hilgendorf are accused of killing Bailey with a landscaping rock, according to evidence revealed co-defendant Jessica Dayton's murder trial. Bailey died from blunt force trauma to his head.

Dayton, 20, of Belle Plaine, a friend of Hilgendorf, was convicted in April and is serving a life term in prison.

Frei allegedly planned to kill Bailey by promising him a menage a trois with her and Dayton, according to evidence in Dayton's trial. They had planned to get him drunk and then kill him. Dayton dropped a  landscaping rock on Bailey's head three times and Hilgendorf hit him with the rock at least once, according to trial evidence.

Kjas Long, Frei's Linn County public defender, said arguing his reasons for separating the trials that Frei's and Hilgendorf's defenses are conflicting. Frei acted in self-defense and will claim insanity as a defense and Hilgendorf, Long speculates, will claim he arrived after the fact.

Assistant Attorney General Doug Hammerand said in his argument against separating the trials that Frei told police during her second interview she was responsible or involved in Bailey's murder and Hilgendorf told police he was solely responsible for Bailey's death.

Hammerand said this is a straightforward case  and it wouldn't be difficult for a jury to sort out the evidence and facts.

Dillard said he was going to separate the trials because nobody can predict what will arise during a trial and it would be difficult for a jury to follow instructions to disregard certain testimony about each defendant.

“In this case, you have two defendants who are closely related and one plans a homicide in one way and the son commits the homicide in a very different way,” Dillard said. “That would be hard for a jury to separate those.”

Dillard said if he didn't separate the trials there is the possibility of two retrials down the road and that should be avoided.

Dillard, ahead of time, gave the attorneys several choices where to move the trials but some court officials in those counties they preferred didn't want the trials or distance was a factor. The three attorneys didn't have any objections to Scott County.