Judge rejects defense motion to move Bend trial of Samson Garner, accused of plotting Smith Rock mass shooting
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – A Deschutes County judge on Friday rejected a defense attorney’s motion to move the upcoming trial of a Portland man accused of plotting a major shooting attack on a Smith Rock climbing event last fall, ruling the level of publicity about the case should not hurt the ability to seat an impartial jury.
“There is no evidence that has been presented that shows a fair and impartial jury cannot be selected,” Circuit Judge Alison Emerson said during closing arguments in an omnibus hearing, held on five days over the past two weeks on nine motions in the case of Samson Zebturiah Garner, 40, facing more than two-dozen charges of attempted murder and unlawful use of a weapon.
The judge took most of the motions under advisement, to issue later rulings after reviewing recently submitted evidence. Several more motion and pre-trial hearings are planned before Garner’s 7-day jury trial is still slated to begin on October 29.
Defense attorney Joel Wirtz, who filed the change of venue request, asked that the trial be moved to Medford, Grants Pass or Gold Beach in Southern Oregon or Vale in Eastern Oregon, outside the Portland or Bend news markets that had significant coverage of the case.
He argued that many news stories included material the judge could still rule inadmissible and that the defense would be “severely limited by striking people (from the jury) with a familiarity of local regional news.”
But Chief Deputy District Attorney Mary Anderson pointed to the testimony of a prosecution witness, PR consultant Kristin MacRostie, who audited the number of news stories published or aired in the case. She found it had a “medium to low (audience) reach,” by comparison to coverage of the 2021-22 case of Ian Cranston, who a jury found guilty of manslaughter but acquitted of murder in the shooting death of Barry Washington Jr.
The prosecution over the past two weeks called several Deschutes County and Portland law enforcement to step through the details of the investigation that included surveillance cameras trained on Gardner’s Portland home.
Word came on October 19 that Garner had left his home more than 12 hours earlier, for parts unknown, sparking an urgent police effort that led to an emergency cellphone ping and a search that located Garner at a campsite 20 miles from Smith Rock last October, with two handguns, an AR-15 rifle and body armor found in his car.
That arrest came a day before the Smith Rock Craggin’ Classic, where Garner had threatened in emails to conduct a mass shooting while climbing competitors were unable to come to the victims’ aid.
