by Travis Mateer
The first witness to take the stand on Wednesday for the defense in the Lee Nelson murder trial was Kristy Pszanowski, a staff member for the Poverello Center who had my job coordinating the Homeless Outreach Team when Nelson was murdered on November 20th, 2020. Here’s Kristi on the stand next to the image of a man she claimed, with 80% certainty, was Joe Page:
Who is Joe Page, you might be asking? In 2018, Joe Page was an unregistered violent offender facing felony charges for meth possession. He also likes the color red, sometimes talks to “wall fairies”, and can flip out for no discernible reason. Despite being subpoenaed, Page wasn’t located in time for the murder trial. I wonder what this good friend of Jason “Junior” Medgar would have said about where he was on the day of November 20th, 2020?
Another person who took the stand yesterday used to live on “The Island” at the Reserve Street homeless camps, where Joe Page and his “brother”, Jason Edgar, would sometimes reside. Known on the street as “Shadow”, he gave testimony about homeless living, generally, and a specific interaction he had with Jason Edgar on the day after the homicide, which was a Saturday.
Shadow talked at length about living rough at the Reserve Street camps, where he acted as the unofficial Mayor during the pandemic, when active sites went from 17 to over 190, according to Mayor Shadow. He also mentioned how the Sheriff’s Office would regularly stop by, bringing supplies and checking in on campers. Campers like Kevin Sandberg and John Cave, pictured below.
Cave and Sandberg aren’t a part of this case, but they ARE a part of the camp culture Shadow describes, where everyone carries weapons and you don’t know who might be hallucinating from days of sleepless tweaking.
To give you a better idea of what homeless camp life is like in Missoula, here’s a short video I found on Shadow’s Facebook page:
This encampment is where I first met Shadow during the summer of 2020. Back then I was hopeful Shadow might help me understand what REALLY happened to Sean Stevenson, since he claimed to have inside information, including the identity of the nurse who supposedly walked out of the hospital room before Sean was removed from life support by a Missoula County Sheriff Deputy acting as the coroner.
I still don’t have the name of that nurse, but I DO have other information that may or may not be helpful in understanding what the fuck is happening in this town.
What the fuck happened in court yesterday? The defense put Detective Guy Baker on the stand as a hostile witness and the verdict of innocence or guilt against Charles Michael Covey depends on whether or not the jury believes Guy Baker conducted an honest, competent investigation. That’s the short of it, but I’ll have more to say during Sunday’s Week in Review.
At the end of court yesterday the motion to dismiss gave me a preview of what closing statements from both sides might look like, so I’m anticipating the jury will be told by Missoula County prosecutor, Mac Bloom, that Covey gave a FULL CONFESSION, but when I heard Bloom use that phrase, I had to think back…did he? Because I don’t recall Detective Guy Baker getting a confession in his initial interview with Covey. No, getting a confession became the noble job of fellow inmates, a pattern of letting others do the dirty work I’m starting to sense is just a characteristic of Baker’s “leadership” style.
After sitting in court for seven work days watching all the same evidence the jury saw presented, I can’t say Charles Covey is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and that’s making me sick to my fucking stomach. And angry. The last thing I want is doubt about who is responsible for ending Lee Nelson’s life in such a brutal manner because I already have TOO MUCH doubt about the integrity of entire institutions in this town. My plate is full, is what I’m saying.
Maybe a not guilty verdict, if it happens, will cause enough concern about how this investigation was potentially compromised to warrant scrutiny into OTHER things Guy Baker is connected to, like the LifeGuard Group, an anti-trafficking outfit conspicuously NOT mentioned by Sergeant Prather in that County Commissioner created podcast called Tip of the Spear. Since this episode is specifically about Missoula County anti-trafficking resources, and the LifeGuard Group is directly tied to the Sheriff’s Office, I can’t imagine WHY Prather omits this supposed resource for victims of trafficking.
That last part is sarcasm because YES I CAN imagine why Prather seems to go out of his way to NOT reference the LifeGuard Group. The hidden wheels of political expediency are churning at absurdly high levels right now and those who still have things like paychecks to lose are getting squeamish.
To help me feel less squeamish about my life choices you can visit my about page and make a financial contribution. Any little bit helps.
Thanks for reading!
Excellent dispatch.