DUCHESNE -- The girlfriend of the Duchesne County rancher accused of shooting and then blowing up the bodies of two of his former employees went on trial Tuesday in 8th District Court in Duchesne on charges of obstruction of justice.
Jury selection in the three-day trial started Tuesday morning.Eight jurors and one alternate will be selected from a pool of 62 prospective jurors to hear the second-degree felony case against 45-year-old Barbara Dehart of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.
Dehart is accused of helping John R. Pinder, 41, dispose of evidence that would link him to the deaths of Rex K. Tanner, 48, and his companion, June Flood, 59, both of Strawberry River, Duchesne County.
Authorities had sought Dehart and Pinder for days after the bodies were found Oct. 31, 1998, scattered and buried in the remote Lake Canyon area of Pinder's Duchesne County cattle ranch southwest of Duchesne. They both eventually turned themselves in after warrants were issued for their arrests.
Pinder and a ranch hand, Filomeno Valenchia-Ruiz, 34, have each been charged with two counts of aggravated murder and numerous other felony counts related to the slayings. Ruiz is being held in the Duchesne County Jail without bail while awaiting his November trial date.
Pinder is being held on $1 million cash-only bail in the Summit County Jail, pending a bail hearing. His trial is set for January 2000.
During Dehart's preliminary hearing, her daughter testified her mother told her Pinder had murdered Tanner and Flood.
Melissa Cowles said her mother told her she helped Pinder get rid of evidence that included the alleged murder weapon, a bag containing bloody hair and a piece of scalp and bloody clothing. Neither the weapon nor any other evidence was reportedly discovered in Idaho where the pair was traveling.
Later, Cowles testified her mother told her to lie and tell the police that she knew nothing about the murders.
Dehart took the Fifth Amendment dozens of times as she was being questioned as a witness in the March preliminary hearing for Pinder and Ruiz.
Dehart has been free on bail since her arrest. On Monday, June 21, Dehart will again appear in 8th District Court, this time for a preliminary hearing on a third-degree felony charge of aggravated assault for allegedly threatening to kill John Pinder's sister, Jenny Pinder Duddleston, on May 7, following a drinking episode at the Pinder ranch.