Mistrial declared in murder case

The refusal of an expert witness to testify and disclosure problems led Spokane County Superior Court Judge James Triplett to declare a mistrial Thursday in the trial of murder suspect Tony T. Callihan. Callihan, 40, is suspected of strangling his girlfriend, 48-year-old Michelle Koenen, to death on Dec. 7, 2012. He fled the state and was arrested in Clearlake, California, a week later after police found him sleeping in Koenen’s car. Defense attorney Derek Reid asked for a mistrial after his expert witness gave notice this week that he was no longer able to testify in the case for undisclosed reasons. The trial has been underway since Dec. 1 and there was no way to move forward without the witness, Reid argued. Prosecuting attorney Dale Nagy objected, asking Triplett to force the witness, Dr. Carl Wigren, to say why he suddenly can’t testify. “What’s the conflict?” Nagy said. “I don’t see anything here.” Wigren was supposed to rebut the prosecution’s expert witness as to Koenen’s cause of death, Reid said. “They had homicide by ligature, our doctor was suicide,” he said. Triplett said he was granting the motion not only because of the witness issue but because of other problems in the case. The prosecution failed to disclose 18 letters written to and from Callihan in prison until this week. “The prosecution has conceded they should have been disclosed,” Triplett said. Reid said the letters involved four people, two of whom were on the witness list. The defense only received the letters two days ago, he said. There were also allegations that one of the jurors may have discussed the case with others and talked about it on social media, Triplett said. The cumulative effects of all those issues “is just too much to ignore,” Triplett said in granting the motion for a mistrial. Despite his regret at lengthening the process for the victim’s family Triplett said it would be unfair to force Callihan to proceed. A new trial is scheduled to begin on Feb. 2.