Facebook messages at issue in court case

A battle over procuring Facebook messages and posts was discussed on Monday during a hearing on the case of a 19-year-old Eureka man charged with sexual intercourse without consent.

Brett Lockhart is being tried as an adult after the court denied a motion to transfer the case to youth court on Aug. 16. Lockhart was 17 at the time of the alleged crime against a 13-year-old female, according to County Attorney Bernard Cassidy. Lockhart was identified as a suspect through DNA testing.

Public defender Alisha Backus brought up a number of issues in court Monday, and requested Facebook records related to the incident. Judge James Wheelis rejected the request for now but asked for more information. He set a hearing for Oct. 17 at 9:30 a.m.

On Sept. 20, Backus filed a request for a subpoena to produce Facebook messages and posts between the girl and Malachi Isaac Baca of Cottonwood, Idaho. In her request, Backus said that the girl had originally accused Baca of fathering a child and raping her.

“Police reports corroborate that the alleged victim accused not only this individual, but several others throughout the course of this case,” Backus wrote.

According to a report from Sheriff’s Office Detective Duane Rhodes, however, the girl claimed to not have any recollection of ever having had sexual relations or being raped. The girl’s mother said she believed her daughter must have been drugged and raped, according to Rhodes.

In relation to Backus’ request for Facebook messages, Cassidy said in court Monday that he has had little success with compelling Facebook personnel to comply with subpoenas, whom he referred to as “anonymous people in L.A.”

On Monday, Wheelis said that whether the girl is truthful about whether a rape occurred doesn’t matter because she was below the age of consent in any case, but Backus said it could be a mitigating factor at sentencing. The girl is now 15, and the age of consent in Montana is 16.

In Rhodes’ report, Baca, the girl’s father and another man were excluded from being the father of her child, based on DNA evidence from the Montana Crime Lab. Brett Lockhart could not be excluded.

On Monday, Backus requested a confidential review of documents from Child Protective Services, and cited a U.S. Supreme Court case from 1987, Penn v. Ritchie, and a Montana Supreme Court case from 2015. Backus also requested the girl’s medical, mental health, and school disciplinary records. Wheelis agreed with allowing the review.

Also under discussion was DNA evidence that was sent to the public defender’s office by mistake. Wheelis said he would grant the state’s request for an order so that it can obtain that evidence.

Lockart faces four to 100 years or life in prison if convicted on the charge.