By Seth Boyes,
The trial of a former Decorah man accused of murdering a teenage girl in 2017 will take place as previously scheduled, after he reasserted his right to a speedy trial in a court filing late last month.
James David Bachmurski faces a charge of second-degree murder for the death of 15-year-old Jade Colvin, whom investigators believe was at Bachmurski’s rural home south of Decorah in March of 2017. The 65-year-old filed a motion in September, invoking his right to be tried within 90 days of the formal charges, and a trial was scheduled for March 19, 2025. However, his defense attorney waived that right in November, before seeking a subpoena for information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding a possible sighting of Colvin in August of 2021 in Harvey, Illinois — about 240 miles from Decorah. Bachmurski’s attorney demanded in a Dec. 24 filing that his client again be granted a speedy trial, and a judge agreed to the demand three days later, saying the trial would be heard on March 19 as previously planned.
Colvin was reported missing to the Des Moines Police Department on June 10, 2016, and she was last known to have contacted her family on March 23, 2017, according to information from the U.S. Justice Department’s National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.
Full article available in the January 9 Decorah Leader.
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