Tim Leeds Havre Daily News tleeds@havredailynews.com
A jury in the Hill County Courthouse in Havre Friday convicted Anthony St. Dennis of Missoula, 19, of deliberate homicide after deliberating less than two hours. The jury left the courtroom at 12:25 p. m. Friday and returned to the courtroom calling the judge and other members of the court back while in the middle of a tour of Havre Beneath the Streets to have their guilty verdict read at 2:31 p.m. Sentencing is scheduled for 2 p.m. March 5 in Missoula. St. Dennis was convicted of killing Forrest Clayton Salcido of Missoula, 56, a homeless veteran found beaten to death on Dec. 6, 2007, near the California Street foot bridge in Missoula. Dustin Strahan of Missoula, 21, is also charged in the case and faces a trial for deliberate homicide in Helena in March. Strahan testified as a witness for the prosecution in St. Dennis’ trial. Judge John Larson, who moved the St. Dennis trial to Great Falls and then Havre due to concern over not being able to find an impartial jury due to media coverage of the case, took members of the court on the tour of Havre Beneath the Streets at 1 p.m., shortly after the jury retired to deliberate. The court had to return to hear the verdict halfway through the tour, although some members were able to complete the tour after the verdict was read. The jury had an added alternative Friday morning when closing arguments were presented lesser alternative charges of negligent homicide or aggravated assault were added to the original charges of deliberate homicide or accountability for deliberate homicide. In his closing arguments, Missoula County Attorney Fred Van Valkenburg told the jury the state didn’t even want them to consider those charges. “Rather, the evidence you’ve heard all points to the crime of deliberate homicide by Anthony St. Dennis,” he said. Defense attorney Christopher Daly said the jury could consider those lesser charges if they believed Strahan’s testimony that he and St. Dennis had fought with Salcido and might convict St. Dennis of negligent homicide if they believed the two had seriously injured the man and left him in the cold, or possibly aggravated assault. But, he said, the evidence does not point toward those offenses. “I would suggest you acquit Mr. St. Dennis of all charges,” Daly said. He said contradictory testimony about the event raises questions about what happened, and no one knows what actually happened after St. Dennis and Strahan saw Salcido near the bridge. He said the prosecution wanted the jury to think it is a blackand- white world, with clear evidence proving St. Dennis’ guilt. “But we all know, ladies and gentlemen, we do not live in a black and white world,” Daly said. He said the testimony of Strahan was “opportunistic.” Strahan and his mother testified that he had originally gone to the police and reported that he and St. Dennis had pulled a homeless man off a woman, apparently an attempted rape, and the fighting followed that. When confronted, Strahan recanted his story and said the assault was unprovoked. Daly said that led Strahan to accuse St. Dennis, likening it to “throwing him under the bus.” In his rebuttal, Van Valkenburg said calling Strahan was acting opportunistic is a “very strange characterization. “He’s trying to make it right. He’s trying to do the right thing,” Van Valkenburg said. “The right thing is to come in here and tell the truth.” Daly also attacked the recording of St. Dennis calling a girl the night he was arrested, in which he talks about murdering the man on the California Street foot bridge. The defense characterized that conversation as a high school student trying to sound macho, to build himself up, after being arrested. “The state is trying to to tell you it’s the confession of a cold-blooded killer,” Daly said. “I would suggest to you it’s anything but that. “This so-called jail-house confession isn’t a confession at all. It’s the ramblings of a scared teenager,” he said. In his rebuttal, Van Valkenburg asked the jury to “put your common sense to work.” He said the state, in its prosecution, is not calling it a black-and-white world, including the fact that Strahan also is facing trial on a charge of deliberate homicide. Van Valkenburg added that Daly seemed to be looking for a black-and-white solution himself. “In the end he doesn’t see that much gray,” Van Valkenburg said. “He wants you to find his client not guilty of all charges.” Van Valkenburg pointed out, as an example of Daly’s confusing the issues, that while Daly noted that Salcido’s blood was found on Strahan’s shoes, he ignored the fact that “Forrest Salcido’s blood was all over his client’s shoes.” During his rebuttal of Daly’s closing argument, Van Valkenburg replayed two segments of the phone call St. Dennis made from the holding cell in the Missoula County Detention Center. He pointed out that Daly referred to the recording as an “alleged phone call.” “This wasn’t some alleged phone call. This really happened,” Van Valkenburg said. “In a pretty straightforward way it demonstrates that his client is guilty as charged.”
