Prior to the day’s proceedings starting, defense attorney Katherine Flickinger filed a motion for mistrial after she learned from the defendant’s mother, Cheryl Hurdel, that she had overheard members of the victim’s family discussing the victim’s relationship with the defendant in the courtroom near the jury on Friday morning.

Justin Hurdel is on trial for allegedly shooting and killing his estranged wife, Maggie Flint, in a garage on Fort Dodge’s south side on Aug. 5, 2020. The trial was moved to Boone County by order of the court in April.

Flickinger motioned for the mistrial, arguing that if the jury heard the statements the family members were making, it could unfairly prejudice the jury, violating the defendant’s right to a fair trial.

The attorneys and District Court Judge Christopher Polking went into a private room to discuss the matter outside the jury’s presence.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Gary Spencer, of Fort Dodge, testifies about what he witnessed when murder defendant Justin Hurdel allegedly shot and killed his estranged wife, Maggie Flint, in August 2020, during the fourth day of Hurdel's murder trial on Friday at the Boone County Courthouse.

First Assistant Webster County Attorney Ryan Baldridge said the state would resist the mistrial motion, saying that the jury may not have even heard anything.

“We don’t know if a juror or the jury as a whole actually heard anything,” Baldridge said. “While I in no way doubt that Ms. Hurdel testified what she believes she saw and heard … I believe she was sitting closer to the family than what the jury would have been, but also would have been more sensitive to issues concerning the decedent’s family than another individual might be.”

He also argued that even if the jury did overhear anything, the jury is provided an instruction before deliberation to only consider information made as part of the formal record in the courtroom.

“My third concern … is that the statements made by Ms. Hurdel weren’t specific and the general statements were that they discussed abuse and attempts to leave the relationship,” Baldridge said. “The attempts to get away from the relationship, I think she used the word ‘escape,’ I think there has been evidence of that in the record.”

He said that since the state has charged the defendant with first-degree murder, “clearly” the relationshp was not a good one.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Webster County Sheriff's Office Detective Alex Winninger testifies about extracting data from murder defendant Justin Hurdel's cell phone, including hundreds of text messages sent between the defendant and victim Maggie Flint.

Flickinger responded that the defendant being charged with first-degree murder being evidence that it wasn’t a good relationship is exactly the issue caused by the alleged statements made by the victim’s family.

“Right now, Mr. Hurdel is presumed innocent until found guilty,” she said.

Flickinger also took issue with the jury possibly hearing that Flint was trying to “escape” the marriage.

“Escaping the relationship is a very different statement than ‘wants a divorce and then decides not to go through with the divorce,'” she said.

To find out if the jury had heard any of the alleged comments, Polking brought each of the jurors in individually to ask if during the course of this trial, have they been exposed to any information about this case from persons seated in the spectator seating area.

“Based on the polling of the jury, the court would find … there has been no exposure by members of the jury to any information about the case from persons seated in the spectator seating area,” Polking said. “Because there has been no exposure, there can be no prejudice. Because there can be no prejudice, the motion for a mistrial is denied.”

Polking said the court would take stricter efforts to make sure that the jury and spectators are not in close proximity to each other again, to avoid a repeat of Friday morning’s events.

The first witness the jury heard from on Friday afternoon was Gary Spencer, of Fort Dodge, who was present when Flint was killed on Aug. 5, 2020.

Spencer testified that he was working in his friend, Robert Baker’s, garage at 526 S. 19th St., helping Baker and Flint do maintenance on Flint’s pickup truck that day. Spencer said that the first time Justin Hurdel stopped at the garage, the defendant stayed for just a few minutes and told Flint that he had signed their divorce papers that day.

When Justin Hurdel left, he hit or kicked the outside wall of the garage, Spencer testified.

When Justin Hurdel returned a short while later, Spencer testified that he was outside cleaning out his car and that Flint and Baker had run to O’Reilly’s Auto Parts to pick up parts for the truck. The defendant had parked his vehicle between Spencer’s car and the north side of the garage and got out.

“And the next thing you know, he was reaching across, getting back in the car, getting something out of the car, which I don’t know what he was getting,” Spencer testified.

He said Justin Hurdel asked if Baker and Flint had gone to the auto parts store, which Spencer confirmed before the defendant walked past Spencer and into the garage.

Spencer testified that the defendant wasn’t behaving like he was sad or angry at that time.

When Baker and Flint returned, Spencer went into the garage with them. Spencer testified to hearing a short interaction between Justin Hurdel and Flint.

“He said, ‘My life’s over, you’ve ruined my life,'” Spencer said. “And then it was ‘No, no,’ and then she was collapsing to the floor because she had been shot.”

He said after he saw Flint fall to the ground, he ran out of the garage and down the alley because he was afraid Justin Hurdel would shoot him. As he ran, Spencer heard a second shot, but said at the time he did not know what had happened.

On cross-examination, Flickinger asked Spencer if he had used methamphetamine in the 24 hours prior to the shooting. He said he had.

Flickinger asked if Spencer had been honest with police that day, telling them everything he knew. He said he had.

Spencer had told officers that day that he didn’t actually see Hurdel shoot Flint, but that he just heard the gunshot and saw Flint fall to the ground.

Fort Dodge Police Department officer Dan Charlson was next on the witness stand. Charlson testified about being one of the officers who finally located and apprehended Justin Hurdel next to a shed near the junction of U.S. Highway 20 and Webster County Road P59 on the morning of Aug. 6, 2020, the day after the shooting. The jury saw body camera footage from the camera worn by Charlson on that day.

A nearby homeowner had reported a suspicious person wearing camouflage walking along the treeline on their property around 7 a.m., and a K-9 unit from the Webster County Sheriff’s Office tracked Justin Hurdel to the site where he was apprehended a short while later.

Through the body camera footage, the jury saw that Hurdel appeared to have been hiding underneath bushes and brush next to a shed. During cross-examination, Charlson would testify that Justin Hurdel did not run when he was located, and that he was cooperative and even polite as officers arrested him.

Justin Hurdel was taken to UnityPoint Health — Trinity Regional Medical Center for treatment of soft-tissue injuries to his nose that were reportedly caused by the defendant attempting to take his own life with the shotgun used to kill Flint.

The final witness of the day, Webster County Sheriff’s Office Detective Alex Winninger, with the cyber crimes unit, testified about extracting data from Justin Hurdel’s cell phone. The cell phone had been found abandoned by a private citizen on Old Mill Road on the afternoon of Aug. 5, 2020. The person who found the phone, Loree Lee, had later heard about the shooting and came to the scene to turn the phone into law enforcement.

Winninger testified that in July 2020, there were 1,100 text messages exchanged between Justin Hurdel and Flint. And in the first four days of August 2020, Hurdel had sent 17 unanswered text messages to Flint.

The trial is in recess until Tuesday morning, when the state will continue making its case for the jury. Follow @KelbyWingert on Twitter for live updates.

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