Attorney Bill Habhab, who is a part-time magistrate court judge in Webster County, testified Thursday morning that Flint first approached him to draft a divorce petition in May 2019. Process servers were unable to locate Hurdel, 44, of Fort Dodge, to serve him with the divorce papers, and eventually the case was dismissed.

Flint again went to Habhab in February 2020 to start the dissolution of the marriage. This time, he was able to serve Hurdel with the divorce papers, but Flint asked Habhab to dismiss the case in May.

Finally, Flint went to Habhab’s office to start the divorce proceedings a third time, and this time she was “done” with Hurdel, Assistant Webster County Attorney Bailey Taylor told the Boone County jury during her opening arguments. The day the petition was filed was July 27, 2020, just nine days before Flint’s death.

Now, almost a year later, Hurdel is on trial for first-degree murder for allegedly shooting and killing Flint on Aug. 5, 2020.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
William Habhab, Maggie Flint's divorce attorney, reviews one of the three divorce petitions he filed on behalf of Flint during his testimony for Flint's estranged husband's first-degree murder trial on Thursday morning.

Flint, who was known as Maggie Hurdel during her marriage to the defendant, was shot in a garage in the 500 block of South 19th Street shortly after 2 p.m. on that day. She died at the scene. Her estranged husband, Justin Hurdel, was quickly identified as a suspect and a citywide search was quickly underway.

About 17 hours later, Hurdel was located near the junction of U.S. Highway 20 and Webster County Road P59, and he was taken into custody without incident. Hurdel was taken to UnityPoint Health — Trinity Regional Medical Center for treatment of severe soft-tissue injury to his nose, which he would later say came from a “botched” attempt to take his own life.

Just an hour before Hurdel would allegedly take a shotgun into the garage at 526 S. 19th St. and shoot Flint and attempt to take his own life, he was sitting in Habhab’s office, signing the divorce papers.

Habhab testified that the defendant didn’t seem overly upset at the time, describing Hurdel as having a “calm demeanor.”

“We talked about a couple of different provisions within the stipulation, I recall, pertaining to vehicles and pertaining to debts,” Habhab said.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
FDPD evidence technician Brandi Webb holds up the shirt that Maggie Flint was wearing when she was shot on Aug. 5, 2020, during her testimony on Thursday.

Hurdel did show strong emotions when he started to sign the papers, the attorney said.

“As he was going to sign it, he had a brief emotional pause,” Habhab said. “I would call it a breakdown of sorts.”

Hurdel then composed himself, signed the stipulation, took his wedding ring off and “firmly” set it on Habhab’s desk before leaving. In total, Hurdel spent about 15 minutes in his office that day, Habhab said.

The jury also heard from Fort Dodge resident Loree Lee, who found the defendant’s discarded cell phone on the road on Old Mill Road, south of Fort Dodge, on the day of the shooting. She testified that she and her husband were on her husband’s motorcycle heading to Des Moines for an errand when she noticed the phone on the ground. She said she put it in the motorcycle’s side bag and they continued onto Des Moines before returning to Fort Dodge a few hours later.

By that time, Lee said she had heard about something happening on the southside of Fort Dodge, and she decided to take the phone and turn it into the police at the scene.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Robert Baker, a witness to Maggie Flint's murder, reviews audio of his interview with police on Aug. 5, 2020, to refresh his memory for cross-examination from defense attorney Katherine Flickinger on Thursday afternoon.

The state’s next few witnesses, Fort Dodge Police Department Reserve Officer Mitch Lunn, FDPD Capt. Dennis Quinn and FDPD evidence technician Brandi Webb, testified on the chain of custody on the cell phone on that day, which was later determined to belong to the defendant.

Webb also testified about collecting evidence at the scene, including the shotgun used to shoot Flint. The shotgun was found just inside the main door to the garage, on the ground, with a small piece of the wooden stock and a live round laying next to it. She described the gun as “modified” because it was missing its stock and the barrel had been apparently cut.

A second, larger piece of the stock was found in the garage in late May 2021, having not been located by law enforcement processing the scene on Aug. 5, 2020.

During cross-examination, defense attorney Katherine Flickinger asked Webb about photos of the garage ceiling near the door that appeared to have a shot pattern. Later, Flickinger would cross-examine Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation criminalist Tara Scott, who testified that there was not any blood or DNA evidence collected from the ceiling section with the apparent shotgun blast damage.

Last on the stand Thursday was Robert Baker, a friend of Flint and Hurdel’s who owned the property where Flint was killed.

Baker testified that on Aug. 5, 2020, he and Flint and another friend — Gary Spencer — were in Baker’s garage, working on Flint’s pickup truck, trying to get it to run. He said she had pushed it down the alley from her house to his garage.

Hurdel then stopped by to talk to Flint. Baker testified that Hurdel seemed “very upset about something” and that he knew the two were having problems in their marriage. He said Hurdel stayed for about 10 to 15 minutes, arguing with Flint, before he left.

Minutes later, Flint and Baker left to go to an auto parts store to pick up parts for Flint’s truck. When they returned, Hurdel was back in the garage, waiting while wearing a camouflage rain jacket.

Baker testified that he went back to work on the truck while Hurdel and Flint continued to argue. He said he heard the defendant say, “Are you scared now?”

“And then, ‘BOOM,’ he shot her,” Baker said.

He said he saw Flint fall to the ground next to her truck, and that the defendant briefly pointed the gun at Baker before pointing it toward his own chin and firing.

Hurdel fell to the ground and then got back up and ran out of the garage and back to his car, leaving a trail of blood drops behind him, Baker testified.

On cross-examination, Flickinger asked Baker about his admitted meth use. He had testified earlier that he had used meth that day, though he said “not very much.”

“Your statement has changed quite a bit since August, is that right?” Flickinger asked Baker.

He asserted that he had not changed his story.

Flickinger then said that in his two interviews with law enforcement — one on the day of the shooting, and another on Aug. 18, 2020 — he never said Hurdel said “Are you scared yet?” and he never said Hurdel had pointed the weapon at him.

Baker continually asserted that he heard the defendant say those words, but he didn’t remember if he told law enforcement and that he had maybe forgotten when he was talking to officers.

The jury and the gallery sat in silence for a total of about 20 minutes while Baker and Flickinger listened to an audio recording of Baker’s interviews over headphones.

Baker would confirm that he didn’t hear himself tell officers about what Hurdel said during the interviews, but stood by his assertion that he heard Hurdel say it.

At the end of a brief redirect, First Assistant Webster County Attorney Ryan Baldridge had a straightforward question for the witness.

“Who killed Maggie?” Baldridge asked Baker.

“Justin Hurdel,” was Baker’s response.

Testimony will continue today. Follow @KelbyWingert on Twitter for live updates.