Cole trial set for November

Brian Cole’s attorney has asked a Pendleton judge to reconsider his decision to allow at trial most of the evidence police gathered in an investigation of allegations that Cole provided alcohol to a 17-year-old girl and sexually abused her.

Baker City attorney Bob Moon filed the motion Friday in Baker County Circuit Court.

During a pretrial hearing Monday, a 3 p.m. court session was scheduled for Aug. 25 to consider additional argument on the issue.

Cole’s trial has been set for Nov. 29-30 and Dec. 1 in Baker County Circuit Court.

Moon contends Reynolds based his decision to allow the evidence at trial “on a theory that was not argued by the state” during a May 21 hearing. Moon argued that officers illegally stopped Cole and did not advise him of his rights when they interviewed him and the girl on Halloween night at the Pocahontas Fire Station about two miles west of Baker City.

Cole was cited and released that night on a charge of furnishing alcohol to a minor. The deputies found a bottle of peppermint schnapps from inside Cole’s car and also cited the girl on a charge of minor in possession of alcohol. She was released to her parents.

After further investigation, Cole later was charged with a second count of furnishing alcohol to a minor and four counts of third-degree sexual abuse. All charges are Class A misdemeanors.

In his July 1 ruling, Reynolds found that the deputies did not stop Cole illegally because he was already stopped and parked at the back of the fire station when they arrived. Reynolds maintained that deputy Gabe Maldonado was carrying out his “community caretaking role” when he met with Cole and initially had no reason to suspect a crime.

Reynolds also ruled that the interaction between Cole and the deputies was similar to a traffic stop and did not require Miranda warnings.

In his motion seeking reconsideration of the ruling, Moon contends that Maldonado did not testify that he was performing any caretaking role of the fire station property, but rather was checking on a car parked in the lot at the direction of his supervisor, Sgt. Travis Ash of the sheriff’s department.

“The state bears the burden of proof on this issue,” Moon wrote in his motion.

He asked Reynolds to reconsider his opinion “that Maldonado engaged in a ‘mere encounter’ while performing community caretaking activities on October 31, 2009.”