Mason hearing begins

Ex-I.F. prosecutor will find out today if he'll face trial

By PHIL DAVIDSON

pdavidson@postregister.com

A teary-eyed John Stosich told prosecutors Tuesday he was shocked that some of the guns he agreed to safeguard for his friend Kimball Mason were stolen from the Idaho Falls Police Department.

"I was stunned, Mr. Rosenthal," Stosich, an Idaho Falls attorney, said from the witness stand in a Bonneville County courtroom. "I could not believe it."

Stosich was the first of 12 witnesses called by Idaho Deputy Attorney General Jay Rosenthal during a five-hour preliminary hearing for the state's case against Mason, the former Idaho Falls prosecutor.

Custer County Magistrate Judge Charles Roos presided over the hearing, and will determine today whether there's enough evidence to forward Mason's case to District Court for trial.

The attorney general's office filed 13 felonies against Mason on Sept. 6 -- seven for grand theft and six for forgery.

All of the charges relate to guns and other weapons stored in the police evidence room that Mason allegedly obtained and kept for himself.

Investigators say he convinced evidence custodians to give him the guns through invalid court orders, often using forged judges' signatures.

Mason was sentenced May 30 to six months in a minimum-security prison for similar crimes.

Randy Hayes / Post Register - Kimball Mason appears in a Bonneville County courtroom in Idaho Falls on Tuesday for hearings on new charges filed against him in connection with his earlier conviction.

A previous investigation by the attorney general's office, which began in November 2005, revealed that evidence custodians relinquished 51 guns to Mason, ostensibly to destroy, auction off or convert for the police department's use.

The attorney general's office has been able to account for about 30 of those guns that Mason either gave to friends or kept for himself. Some he also traded to Ski's House of Guns.

Mason told investigators that he destroyed the remainder. Stosich said in court Tuesday that he agreed to hold on to four boxes worth of firearms he believed legally belonged to Mason while the 52-year-old awaited his May 30 sentencing.

Based on a tip, however, investigators raided Mason's home June 2 and found nine guns that Stosich temporarily stored in his home.

During cross-examination, Mason's attorney, Jim Archibald, asked Stosich whether telling Mason to get rid of his guns before he went to prison was legal advice subject to attorney-client confidentiality.

Stosich said that because Mason had already hired a lawyer, he thought the advice was based just from his experience as a defense attorney.

Stosich was one of few of the prosecution's witnesses Tuesday who provided insight into the gun charges. Most of the witnesses were court employees -- including clerks, supervisors and judges -- who testified about the signature stamps investigators say Mason was using without approval.

On at least six different occasions dating back to 2001, Mason presented court orders to the police department's evidence custodians with magistrate judges' signatures that he stamped himself, Rosenthal said.

Investigators discovered that the orders Mason drafted to forfeit guns to himself were not found in court records on the criminal cases.

Magistrate Judges Keith Walker and Mark Riddoch both said they never gave Mason authority to use their signature stamps on gun forfeiture orders.

Heather Matheson, a former deputy court clerk, said she frequently saw Mason sitting at her desk using judges' signature stamps on various documents she did not get a good view of.

Matheson said she told her supervisor about this because she didn't think it was her job to reprimand someone such as Mason who had more authority.

Archibald asked Matheson whether she disliked Mason, to which she replied, "I did not like the abuse of his authority," and added that she didn't think he was an efficient prosecutor.

Mason, who wrapped himself in a blanket midway through the hearing when his jail-issued uniform apparently did not provide enough warmth, displayed little emotion throughout the day, save for occasional whispered chat with Archibald.

Mike Dillon, the attorney general's chief investigator, will be the last witness testifying today.

Cops and Courts reporter Phil Davidson can be reached at 542-6750.

The Mason case

SO FAR: Though he is still serving time for grand theft and falsifying a public document, former Idaho Falls Prosecutor Kimball Mason is facing 13 new felonies. State investigators allege he was stealing guns from the Idaho Falls Police Department's evidence room using court orders that he forged in some cases.

THE LATEST: Mason appeared in court Tuesday for a preliminary hearing on the new charges after spending nearly two weeks temporarily locked up in the Bonneville County Jail.

WHAT'S NEXT: Magistrate Judge Charles Roos will determine today whether prosecutors presented enough evidence to forward Mason's case to District Court for trial.