Inset: Judge Tristan J. Van de Streek (North Dakota Court System). Background: Starmaine Hoeper (Cass County Jail).
A North Dakota man charged in a robbery that left one person injured last month got into an ultimately pointless argument, of sorts, with a judge during his bail hearing this week.
Starmaine Hoeper, 34, stands accused of one count each of attempted murder, aggravated assault — accomplice, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, according to Cass County authorities.
Much to the defendant’s chagrin, he will almost certainly be detained in the Cass County Jail for the foreseeable future.
During the bail hearing, Hoeper essentially acknowledged as much after the judge set his bail at $500,000 — cash only — the amount requested by the prosecution.
“At least give me a cash bond or something, I ain’t got no way to get out, $500,000 is excessive,” an astonished Hoeper said, according to a courtroom report by The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead.
In response to the defendant’s dismay, East Central Judicial District Court Judge Tristan Van de Streek said the bail amount was reasonable and appropriate under the circumstances.
The judge’s brief reasoning appeared to upset Hoeper further.
“Five hundred thousand dollars cash?” he agitatedly asked Van de Streek. “No bond? I ain’t rich.”
The court did not budge.
The defendant eventually gave up his display of consternation, reportedly smirking as he said, “alright,” and sauntered off.
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Perhaps seeming unusually talkative, the defendant appeared to suggest he was, in fact, in charge of his own case earlier in the hearing — at least at this point in the proceedings.
“I’m not sure if I am going to get a lawyer or not,” Hoeper told the judge at one point — before the argument about the bail amount.
In the underlying case, law enforcement said the defendant offered several conflicting narratives about the shooting that occurred late on the night of July 31 on the side of a rural road.
Police, however, settled on a version of events wherein Hoeper, another suspect, and the victim set out to buy drugs with the victims’s money. After a fruitless night of searching, the defendant and his accomplice refused to return the other man’s money, police allege. Then, the trio argued, and violence ensued, according to court documents obtained by Fargo-based NBC affiliate KVLY.
After pulling over to the side of a road, the second suspect allegedly shot at the ground and ordered the victim to leave the vehicle. He complied but later refused when he was told to walk into a ditch. Then, the victim tried, in vain, to get back inside the vehicle when Hoeper allegedly picked the gun up and shot him.
The defendant, for his part, later allegedly told police the shooting was accidental and that he was only trying to scare the victim by firing the weapon, not intending the bullet to strike him.
The victim then called 911 and was found near a radio tower transmitter site on U.S. Route 81. He is expected to survive.
The state painted the scene in stark terms for the court on Tuesday.
“The defendant is alleged to have shot someone in the stomach and left them on the side of a country road to die,” Cass County State’s Assistant Attorney Josh Traiser told the court during the hearing.
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