Lail amends pleas to avoid trial #2

At a pre-trial conference on Aug. 13 at 9 a.m. in Valley City, Alexander Lail of New Rockford entered amended pleas for the seven counts for which he was scheduled to stand trial.

On counts 5 and 7, Class C Felony possession of a controlled substance and Class A Misdemeanor ingesting a controlled substance, Lail pleaded guilty. On the remaining five felony charges, he entered an Alford plea, which means he is not admitting guilt but acknowledges that the evidence presented by the prosecution would likely persuade a judge or jury to find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The charges for which he entered the Alford plea are as follows:

 • Delivery of a controlled substance, methamphetamine, a Class A Felony

 • Conspiracy to deliver a controlled a substance, a Class A Felony

 • Maintaining a dwelling for using controlled substance, a Class C Felony

 • Bribery, Class C Felony

 • Aggravated assault - domestic violence, a Class C Felony

The third trial referenced in the Aug. 6 issue of the Transcript, which is slated to last five days beginning Aug. 27, relates to the alleged assault of the late Jason Thomas of Harvey. The two charges he faces in that case include Class A Felony criminal conspiracy and Class B Felony conspiracy to commit aggravated assault.

 There is also a fourth trial scheduled for the charge of interception of wire or oral communications - eavesdropping, a Class C Felony. Lail allegedly placed a recording device in the office of Fessenden Police Chief Travis Tesch. According to Wells County State’s Attorney Kathleen Murray, many hours of unauthorized audio recordings were secured during the investigation. The fourth trial is set to begin with a pre-trial conference on Sept. 5.

A Class A Misdemeanor stalking charge is also open, and there is no reference to when that charge will be tried. Lail allegedly placed a GPS tracking device on at least one vehicle, which was found on Deanna Neurohr’s car in Harvey. Again, according to Murray, the investigation revealed that the device was actively tracking the location of Neurohr’s car.

Read the Transcript for continued updates on this developing story.