A district judge moved a Uintah County gang rape case to Salt Lake City with hopes a larger selection pool would allow attorneys to finally seat jurors in an almost 2-year-old case fraught with jury selection issues.
Eighth District Judge Edwin T. Petersen ordered Thursday that the case be tried in the Third District Court in Salt Lake City, after absentee jurors forced a mistrial the day before in Summit County, according to court documents.
Only 60 prospective jurors out of the 96-member selection pool showed up for the first day of the trial for the three men — Larson Rondeau, 38, Jerry Flatlip, 31, and Randall Flatlip, 27 — accused of gang-raping a 9-year-old girl in March 2016.
Not enough people were left to seat a jury after attorneys finished the selection process, forcing the judge to declare a mistrial, Petersen said in the order.
The men face first-degree felony counts of rape of a child and sodomy upon a child on allegations they held down and raped the girl in a home near 1000 South and 2000 West in Vernal when her mother went to the garage to smoke methamphetamine.
The venue change to Salt Lake City marks the second in the case, which was moved to Summit County in March after a judge ruled the trio wouldn’t get a fair trial in Uintah County.
In ordering the venue change, Petersen canceled a status conference set for Monday. The new judge assigned to the case will reschedule it.
