Illegal Weapons Trial Delayed

Tue., Jan. 25, 2000

By Bill Morlin billm@spokesman.com

A North Idaho woman who was to stand trial today for illegally possessing a machine gun has been granted a delay.

The trial of JoAnn Peterson was postponed to Feb. 29 by U.S. District Court Judge Edward Lodge, who granted a defense motion.

Federal defender Steve Hormel, who represents Peterson, asked for more time to prepare a defense and analyze the case against her.

Peterson, 62, is accused of possessing a 9 mm fully automatic MAC-19 pistol.

Court documents allege she acquired the firearm a few years ago at a barter fair in Tonasket, Wash., by trading a pound of marijuana for the machine gun.

The machine gun was found on Oct. 27 when agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms executed a search warrant on Peterson’s home near Moyie Springs, Idaho.

She has been in jail since her arrest that day in Newport, Wash.

Her defense attorney sought a delay in her trial after Spokane County sheriff’s detectives got a warrant on Jan. 14 charging Peterson with aggravated first-degree murder.

The murder charge stems from the November 1991 shotgun murder of Peter Zeihen, Peterson’s former son-in-law.

Peterson is scheduled to stand trial in Spokane County Superior Court on the state murder charge after the pending federal firearms charge is resolved.

Her ex-husband, Morris “Mel” Goldberg, of Newport, also is charged with murder.

The couple’s son, Theil T. Goldberg, pleaded guilty earlier this month in Spokane to second-degree murder. Under a plea bargain, he agreed to testify against both his parents.

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