GLENDIVE, Mont.—A defense motion in a grisly murder case argues that Jake Burghduff, 21, of Ludlow, S.D., was coerced into confessing his role in the murder of Isaac Carrier of Fallon, Mont.
Public defenders Michael Haase and Hailey Forcella, Miles City, Mont., are asking District Judge Olivia Rieger to throw out Burghduff’s confession to Montana Division of Criminal Investigation Agent Brad Tucker.
Forcella said investigators had no evidence that Burghduff and Sterling Brown of Camp Crook, S.D., were involved in Carrier’s death at his apartment in Fallon, Mont., on January 23, 2023, until Burghduff was convinced to talk during a lengthy interrogation at the Spearfish Police Department, Spearfish, S.D., on February 7, 2023.
According to Forcella, had a defense attorney been there, Burghduff would have been instructed not to talk.
In the motion, it’s noted the investigator showed two photos to Burghduff during an interview at the police station.
After seeing a photo of Isaac Carrier’s face while he was alive, and a second shot displaying his burned body after he had been shot in the back of his head while asleep in his apartment, Jake Burghduff disclosed details of the night of the murder.
According to the defense attorneys in the case, Tucker used promises of a lighter sentence mixed with threats, including the possibility of the death penalty to convince Burghduff to talk. It’s alleged he also detained Burghduff against his will and searched his cell phone without his consent.
Both Burghduff and Brown are charged with deliberate homicide and arson and are being held in the Dawson County Correctional Facility in Glendive, Mont.
Brown is set to go on trial in March 2023. No trial date has been set for Burghduff.
