Hit-and-run defense wants case dismissed

In response to a motion to dismiss a

woman’s charges stemming from a former Troy man’s hit-and-run death

three years ago, the Missoula County Attorney’s Office on Monday

requested a probable cause hearing to present witness

testimony.

Katie Garding, 24, of Stevensville

pleaded not guilty in district court in Missoula last year to

felony charges of negligent homicide, tampering with evidence and

failing to stop at the scene of an accident.

Prosecutors allege Garding swerved onto

the shoulder of Highway 200 in East Missoula in the early hours of

New Year’s Day 2008 and struck and killed 25-year-old Bronson

Parsons as he walked down the street with a friend. Investigators

say that witness testimony from passengers and physical evidence

eventually led them to Garding.

Garding’s defense, however, filed a

motion Jan. 20 to dismiss all of the charges for lack of evidence.

Her defense argues that two of the passengers, who were interviewed

while incarcerated, have given authorities wildly contradicting

stories that have changed over time. A third passenger, who was not

incarcerated when approached by authorities, contradicts the others

by claiming that Garding didn’t strike anything at all that night,

according to the defense.

The defense also disputed the

prosecution’s alleged physical evidence – claiming that injuries on

the victim’s body did not actually match that of the homemade

bumper on Garding’s vehicle.

“There is absolutely no physical

evidence connecting Garding to this offense,” the motion states,

“and merely rests on the word of two jailhouse inmates whose

statements contradict one another.”

The prosecution responded Monday by

admitting that after filing an affidavit of probable cause, “some

witnesses have indicated in pretrial interviews that their

testimony would differ in some respects from their prior

statements.”

If the court grants a probable cause

hearing, the state intends to question witnesses on the stand.