NewsLocal News

Actions

Judge sets January 2021 trial date for Mark Redwine following mistrial

Mistrial was declared Monday because Redwine’s public defenders were experiencing COVID-19 symptoms
Posted at 11:44 AM, Nov 13, 2020
and last updated 2020-11-13 13:53:57-05

DENVER – A 6th Judicial District judge on Friday set a tentative trial date for Mark Redwine for Jan. 25, 2021 after a mistrial was declared Monday because Redwine’s public defenders were experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and had to quarantine.

Redwine, who is charged with second-degree murder and child abuse resulting in the 2012 death of his 13-year-old son, Dylan Redwine, appeared remotely in the courtroom, as did his attorney, Justin Bogan.

Bogan, Sixth Judicial District Attorney Christian Champagne, and Judge Jeffrey Wilson walked through the number of days already used under the speedy trial statute, and the court agreed to set a tentative trial start date of Jan. 25.

Judge Wilson said he was unsure if the Jan. 25 trial date would be “realistic” with the current spike in COVID-19 in Colorado and across the country, and agreed with a request from Champagne to have a status conference on Jan. 5, 2021 to see if the trial date later in the month will be feasible.

The mistrial declared Monday in the latest attempt at a trial for Redwine came because some of Redwine’s public defenders were showing symptoms of COVID-19, they said in a motion to the court, and would need to quarantine for 10-14 days even if they did not test positive based on protocols from the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender and state public health department.

The trial has been delayed several times over the years, and COVID-19 has continually pushed the trial date back this year.

Judge Wilson had also exhibited symptoms of the coronavirus last week, though he tested negative over the weekend ahead of Monday's hearing.

The mistrial was declared Monday while the trial was still in the jury selection process. The defense team estimates they need two weeks to make their arguments – something that also came up in Friday’s hearing, when Bogan said he was worried a trial starting in late January could potentially run into the third week of March, when Spring Break is scheduled for many districts in La Plata County.

Dylan Redwine’s family told Denver7 on Monday they were disappointed in the mistrial after for waiting years for the case to come to trial.

“We rented a house down here. We’re taking time off of work and pretty much left our lives to come down here, and then have this happen and here we are again going home empty-handed. It’s just so frustrating,” said Cory Redwine, Dylan’s brother. “It’s just heartbreaking that victims’ rights and everything like that get ignored.”

Dylan Redwine, 13, was on a court-ordered visit to see his father, Mark Redwine, around Thanksgiving Day 2012. The teenager was last seen alive on Nov. 18, 2012.

The partial remains of Dylan Redwine were found 10 miles from his father's home north of Vallecito Lake in La Plata County in June 2013, according to an indictment. His skull was located more than two years later, on Nov. 1, 2015, about a mile and a half from the previously located remains.

Anthropologists who studied the skull determined the injuries were consistent with blunt force trauma in two locations, according to an indictment. The skull also had two small markings consistent with tool marks from a knife, the indictment shows.

Redwine, then 55 years old, was arrested in July 2017 in Washington on a fugitive warrant with the underlying charges of second-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death and was later extradited back to Colorado, where he has been awaiting trial for more than three years.

To date, Mark Redwine has denied his involvement in his son's disappearance and death.