Published: March 10, 2008 11:47 pm      

Murder trial leaves Bedford with cash crunch

BEDFORD — The cost of the three-week trial for Joseph W. Clark was nearly double the estimate budgeted by the Bedford County commissioners.

With the cost of jury selection in Butler County, lodging and meals for that jury in Bedford, overtime pay for deputies and court staff, and other expenses, the trial cost $57,000, said Barry Crawford, the county’s chief financial officer.

State reimbursement to the county, provided for any jury trial that lasts more than three days, totaled $6,000, bringing the cost to county taxpayers to $51,000, Crawford said.

And if that isn’t bad enough, county Commissioner Steve Howsare said, county taxpayers will have to ante up again this spring.

“I think we budgeted $30,000,” Howsare said.

“The first thing I asked when I heard the total was how long we could delay the next trial.”

The single biggest expense was lodging and feeding at first 16 jurors and later 12 jurors and two alternates, he said.

Clark, 49, of Everett, was charged with capital murder in the kidnapping and slaying of Holly Notestine, a 25-year-old mother of two who vanished in April 2000.

The trial began Jan. 14 with jury selection in Butler County and concluded in early February when the jury declared it was deadlocked after six days of deliberations. State law mandates that a second trial must begin no later than 120 days after the declaration of a mistrial, so jury selection must begin by June 9.

Meanwhile, commissioners said they have found a way to make up the deficit from the first trial.

A greater-than-expected savings in anticipated 2008 county employees’ health-insurance premiums will result in a savings of about $24,000, money now shifted to trial bills.

“I think we’ve been able to make up the difference for this trial, but we haven’t figured out how we’re going to pay for the next one,” Howsare said. “Luckily, we don’t have to deal with this too often.”