CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Benton County prosecutors want to combine three cases against Joel Patrick Courtney together, including the murder of Brooke Wilberger, claiming they are similar.
Courtney is accused of the 2004 murder of college student Brooke Wilberger and, in a separate case, attempted kidnapping and murder two other women on the same day.
Courtney, extradited from New Mexico, has been charged with 19 counts of aggravated murder, kidnapping, rape and sodomy in connection with Wilberger, a 19-year-old Brigham Young University student who disappeared in Corvallis May 24, 2004, and who is presumed dead. Her body has not been found. The Wilberger trial is expected to begin in 2010.
The Corvallis Gazette-Times newspaper said hearings on the request to merge the trials are set for May and motions in the case were scheduled for May 4 in front of Judge Williams.
Meanwhile, last July, District Attorney John Haroldson said his office turned over tens of thousands of pages of documents Courtney's lawyers and that serious plea bargain negotiations could begin. But as of Wednesday, no agreement had been reached and the case was expected to go to trial in 2010.
Background:
Wilberger, a 19-year-old Brigham Young University student, vanished on May 24, 2004, from a Corvallis apartment building parking lot. Prosecutors say they will seek a death sentence for Courtney in her case.
