Accused Killer Held Over For Trial, Bond Reduced
WILLISTON, N.D. (WWJ/AP) - A district judge has cut the bond in half to $500,000 for a 31-year-old Michigan man accused of stabbing his friend to death last month at an oil field crew camp in western North Dakota.
Ryan Anderson of Iron River in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, is charged with murdering 32-year-old Christopher King after an alcohol-fueled dispute at the Capital Lodge crew camp between Ray and Tioga.
Judge Joshua Rustad found probable cause to move forward on the murder charge during a hearing Wednesday at the Williams County Courthouse, The Williston Herald reported. Anderson pleaded not guilty.
The judge dismissed an attempted murder charge, which Anderson had faced for allegedly trying to stab another man.
Authorities say that Anderson and King were longtime friends who moved from Michigan to work in North Dakota's oil fields.
In the affidavit filed in support of the charges, Williams County Sheriff's Sgt. Det. Caleb Fry alleged that King and other witnesses interrupted a fight between Anderson and his girlfriend in the alcohol-infused night leading up to the stabbing.
Fry said Anderson used a 4-inch hunting knife, which had blood and pieces of flesh on it afterward, to stab King in the heart, around the heart and twice in the stomach.
During a cross-examination of Fry, defense attorney Nicole Foster questioned the nature of the fighting between Anderson and the victim. She raised questions about the chain of events, asking if Anderson can be seen having a physical altercation with his girlfriend, who has not been interviewed in the case. Fry responded that Anderson cannot be seen fighting with his girlfriend in the surveillance video.
Foster also said Anderson was "seriously injured" in the fight with bruising on his neck, and she asked if Fry had seen evidence of King pushing Anderson's head three times into the wall. Fry said officers did not see damage to the walls.
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