By Alan Sorensen
by Alan Sorensen
The Havre Daily News
Tuesday, May 11
The trial of a woman and her brother accused of burning their stepfather to death in a Stanford mobile home 2 1/2 years ago began with jury selection in Havre Monday morning.
Leonard Theis, 61, died in the fire that gutted his trailer home during the early morning hours of Oct. 17, 1996.
Donna June Enright, of Great Falls, is accused of setting fire to the trailer and then going for help. Her brother, Roy A. Link, who was at his home in Sun River when the fire broke out, is accused of felony arson by accountability.
The case is being prosecuted by Montana Assistant Attorneys General Joe Thaggard and Betsy Horsman. Jon Oldenburg of Lewistown is representing Enright and Craig Buehler, also of Lewistown, is representing Link.
Twelfth Judicial District Court Judge John Warner is presiding over the case.
The pair, who are nearly the same age as their stepfather was when he died, were previously found guilty by Stanford juries but won a retrial on an appeal to the Montana Supreme Court.
Enright was convicted in by a 10th Judicial District Court jury at the Judith Basin County Courthouse in June 1997 of felony arson and deliberate homicide. Link was convicted of felony arson by accountability in the same court the following month.
The Supreme Court ordered the retrials in December 1998 and the pair subsequently won change of venue to 12th Judicial District Court in Havre.
Judge Warner reportedly told the jury pool Monday morning that the trial could last between seven and 10 days.
