Trial Transcripts

Defense Witness #3: Chanda Hidanovic

THE COURT: You may proceed for the defense.
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. BRANDBORG:

Q	Ms. Hidanovic, could you say your whole name for the record?
A.	Chanda Hidanovic.
Q	And could you spell it?
A.	C-h-a-n-d-a, H-i-d-a-n-o-v-i-c.
Q	And you were recently married?
A.	Yes, September.
Q	Who were you married to in September?
A.	Mevludin.
Q	And what was your maiden name before that?
A.	Thomte.
Q	Could you spell that?
A.	T-h-o-m-t-e.
Q	Ms. Hidanovic, how many children do you have?
A.	We have four together. Two are his and two are mine.
Q	Okay, do you live in the area?
A.	Yes, South Fargo.
Q	And do you work somewhere?
A.	I work at the North Dakota Center for Sleep.
Q	And you work there with Annie Lund?
A.	Yes I do.
Q	Let me direct your attention back to last summer during the Cass County Fair. It was the 24th of June actually, do you recall a disturbance out at the fair that day?
A.	Yes I do.
Q	And if you could just tell the jury a little bit about how that day began for you, what you were doing?
A.	I remember going to Lindenwood Park, Mevludin’s family was having a picnic there that day. And I believe his cousin had gotten her driver’s license, so they threw a picnic for her. They had it under a shelter, because it’d been raining on and off all day long. And while we were at the picnic the kids were begging to go to the fair, because it was like the last day of the fair. And so we said, if it stops raining long enough we’ll take you to the fair. And so wouldn’t you know it, it stopped raining, we had to the fair. I would say it was probably like early evening when we went to the fair.
Q	Did all four of you pack up in the car and go out there?
A.	Yup, yup.
Q	Do you recall where you parked when you got there?
A.	We parked right by the main entrance, which would be to the east, right along that road that goes along the fair.
Q	Sure, and time wise, it’s evening?
A.	I would say it was maybe between 5:30 – 6:00 when we got there.
Q	Okay, when you initially got there, what did you do?
A.	We first had to buy tickets, we were hoping that if we bought the tickets – we didn’t want to splurge for the bracelets, because then it would have cost us like a hundred dollars. We got tickets first, and had them go on rides right away.
Q	And were the kids enjoying the rides?
A.	Oh yes. They were running from ride to ride to ride having a good time.
Q	And your husband was with you this whole time?
A.	Yup.
Q	You and the kids?
A.	Yup.
Q	Eventually did you run out of tickets?
A.	Yes we did.
Q	And so what did you do?
A.	We thought it was going to rain again, but we did end up buying them bracelets, so they could stay longer, and ride more rides.
Q	So the bracelets allow the kids to go on as many rides as they want?
A.	Yup.
Q	Is that –
A.	Uh-hum.
Q	Now during this time, did your husband ever have a baseball bat?
A.	No, not all.
Q	A knife?
A.	No.
Q	And obviously during this time you had enough time to see what he was wearing that day?
A.	Oh yes.
Q	And could you describe for the jury his – what he was wearing on the upper half of his body?
A.	He had on a very loud sweater. He has a very different style of dress than most Americans do, but he had on a very loud sweater, white pants, and he had on some very pointy shoes that I thought would be very uncomfortable walking through the fair, but he wanted to wear that, so.
Q	And if you saw those clothes today, you’d recognize them?
A.	Oh yes.

MR. BRANDBORG:  Your Honor, may I approach.
THE COURT:  You may.

Q	(BY MR. BRANDBORG)  Ms. Hidanovic, I’m going to hand you all three exhibits here.
A.	Okay.
Q	If you would just pick up the sweater and have a look at it.
A.	Yes this is the sweater.
Q	Is that the same sweater that your husband was wearing at the fair that day?
A.	Yes it is.
Q	And you live with your husband?
A.	Yes.
Q	Can you identify that to be the exact same sweater he was wearing that day?
A.	This is the exact sweater he was wearing. He had just got it at Halberstat’s. I made fun of it when he bought it, that is the exact sweater.

MR. BRANDBORG:  Your Honor, I would ask if Defense Exhibit 5 be entered into evidence?
THE COURT:  Mr. Boening.
MR. BOENING:  No objection.
THE COURT:  Exhibit 5 as offered is received, you may proceed.
MR. BRANDBORG:  Thank you.

Q	(BY MR. BRANDBORG) And if you could grab the shoes there. I think, does it say State’s Exhibit – or I’m sorry does it say Defense Exhibit 7?
A.	Yes it does.
Q	And you recognize those shoes?
A.	Yes I do.
Q	Where those the shoes that he was wearing –
A.	Yes they are.
Q	-- at the fair? Are those the exact pair of shoes?
A.	They’re the exact shoes.
Q	And you live with your husband of course?
A	Yes.
Q	And you have no reason to believe those are a different pair of shoes? He doesn’t own more than one of those?
A	No.

MR. BRANDBORG:  That’s good. Your Honor, I’d ask if Defense Exhibit 7 could be entered into evidence?
THE COURT:  Mr. Boening, for the State?
MR. BOENING:  No objection.
THE COURT:  Exhibit #7 as offered is received. You may proceed.

Q	(MR. BRANDBORG)  And in the last exhibit there, is Defense Exhibit 6, is a pair of white linen pants.
A.	Linen pants, uh-hum.
Q	Do you recognize those as the pants that your husband was wearing on the day of the fair?
A.	Yes they are.
Q	And there’s even some dirt around the cuffs.
A.	Yeah, cause it was raining, so there was puddles of water that we were walking through.
Q	Do you know if – was that mud put there that day?
A.	Yup.
Q	Was it – you don’t know if could have been put there another day?
A.	No, no we weren’t at the fair a different day wearing these same pants, so no.
Q	But has he worn those – has he had those pants on since?
A.	No, no.
Q	In fact, did you turn those pants over to your husband’s first attorney?
A.	Yes, right away.
Q	Right away?
A.	Uh-hum.
Q	And you’re certain that those are the exact same pants that he was wearing on that day?
A.	Yes, he got them when he was in Florida, those are the same pants.

MR. BRANDBORG:  Your Honor, I would ask if Defense Exhibit 6 be entered into evidence?
THE COURT:  Mr. Boening?
MR. BOENING:  No objection.
THE COURT:  Exhibit #6 as offered is received. You may proceed.

Q	(BY MR. BRANDBORG)  Now you’re there with your wildly dressed husband, and it sounds like you’re having a good time?
A.	Uh-hum.
Q	At some point and time did you decide to go on a ride by yourself?
A.	Yeah, we did.
Q	And what was that ride?
A.	I don’t know what it was called exactly, but you lay down on your stomach and you hold onto these two bars in front you. And three people can go across at a time, and then it spins you around on the ground – or off the ground.
Q	And who did you go on that ride with?
A.	I was on it with Nurija, Mevludin and myself, so we were all in a row.
Q	Now during this time, where were your kids?
A.	They were directed to go into the Fun House again, cause they wanted to keep going over and over and over into the same Fun House. And they were told to wait right at the little bench that’s right by when you go in to the ride.
Q	Wait for you there?
A.	Yup, -- when we’re done.
Q	Give the jury the ages of your kids?
A.	There’s a ten year old boy, two eight year old girls, and a six year old boy.
Q	And does the ten year old kind of keep track of them, corral them?
A.	Oh yeah, yes.
Q	Now before you got on the ride, did you notice any disturbances at the fair?
A.	No.
Q	While you were on the ride – or the ride was just ending, did a cell phone ring?
A.	Yes.
Q	Who’s was that?
A.	Nurija’s.
Q	Okay, now as the ride comes to a stop, tell the jury what happens.
A.	Well, the ride slowing down and his cell phone rang, and he started talking excited. I couldn’t understand – I don’t understand what he was saying. But it was – there was a fight that had broke out. And so as the ride is ending, it starts to slow down, and my shoes are on the ground. So I was trying to identify where my shoes were, because you have to take off your flip flops when you go on the rides, so they don’t hit anybody in the head. And so I got my shoes on, and the immediate thing that I worried about was the kids, it’s the only thing I went for was the kids. And everybody just – it just kind of turned into chaos, everybody started kinda running and rushing everywhere, and I didn’t really know what was going on at that point.
Q	Now you went for the kids?
A.	Uh-hum.
Q	As far as you know, did your – do you know where Mr. Hidanovic went?
A.	Yes, he was running right in front of us, so –
Q	Okay.
A.	Uh-hum.
Q	And at any point and time did you lose track of him?
A.	No.
Q	At any point and time then, now, during this entire time, did you ever see him hit anybody?
A.	No.
Q	Did he take a bat out of his pants and hit anybody?
A.	No.
Q	A knife?
A.	No.
Q	Did you actually see anybody at the carnival be struck by anybody else?
A.	No, it was all done by the time we got up there. We rushed up there to see what was going on, and it was done. So I didn’t see anything.
Q	Now, I – earlier there was some testimony that possibly some children had been left behind?
A.	Yes, there was a little boy that was there.
Q	Who was the boy?
A.	S., I think his name was.
Q	Okay, and in fact did you and your husband – I guess at the time was your fiancé, did you gather him up and give him a ride home?
A.	Yes, yup. We just wanted to leave, because it just looked like there was chaos that was breaking out, so we just left.
Q	And you were with your husband this entire time?
A.	Yes.
Q	And when your husband was charged, I gather you were surprised?
A.	We saw it on the news, I was very, very surprised.

MR. BRANDBORG:  I have nothing further, your Honor.
THE COURT:  Mr. Boening, cross examination for the State.
CROSS EXAMINATION BY MR BOENING:

Q	Ma’am, when did you meet the Defendant?
A.	When did I meet him? Probably about four or five years ago.
Q	And have been living with him since that time.
A.	No, probably just for maybe like the past year and a half.
Q	This ride that you went on with the Defendant and Nurija, how long did that ride last.
A.	Maybe three to five minutes.
Q	It’s been awhile since I’ve ridden rides at the fair, but normally it seems to me they don’t run any longer than they think they can get away with, because they got other tickets they want to sell, right?
A.	Yeah, there weren’t a whole lot of people standing in line, because of the on and off rain, so we were getting on rides pretty quickly and –
Q	Now as I understand your testimony, your testimony is that there was this location where you go on the ride, and then there’s this other location on the fairgrounds where there’s actually some fighting that takes place, is that correct?
A.	That’s correct, uh-hum.
Q	And your testimony is that – well, if you can, how far was the one location from the other?
A.	I’m not very good at judging distance at all, but we had to run through a few rides, and then it’s the start of where the games were. And where I could tell the start of the fight was at – it was like a change, where you would drop a quarter in it and pushes the money to the end and some quarters fall down if you win. It was by one of those types of tents that are up.
Q	So it’s your testimony that there was a phone call while you were on the ride, and Nurija received that call, is that correct?
A.	Yes.
Q	After the call, how did you know where to run?
A.	You could tell where there was chaos, people were kind of running all in one direction, so we just kind of followed everybody else.
Q	So you followed everyone to the chaos?
A.	Yeah, cause I think pretty much everybody wanted to hear and see what was going on, because all you – I mean I didn’t hear any screaming or yelling or anything like that. But we just kind of followed where everybody was going to see what was happening.
Q	So when you went on the ride, that wasn’t happening, is that correct?
A.	It was happening while we were on the ride.
Q	So when you went on the ride, it was not happening, is that correct?
A.	Correct, that I know of, it probably was, but we didn’t know it.
Q	You didn’t see it, did you?
A.	Uh-uh (negative response).
Q	And when you say you ran to that vicinity, were you running with your husband?
A.	Yes, and kids.
Q	So you’re saying you were running with your children to the fight?
A.	Well, not – I wanted to make sure where the children were at.
Q	So were you running to the fight with your children or not?
A.	Well, kinda yes, yeah I guess we were running towards that direction, yeah. But the fight was over by then.
Q	So did you consider this to be entertainment?
A.	No, we wanted to make sure that his family was okay. If there was any of his family that was there, or – I know that his little brother was at the fair, so we were pretty much concerned to make sure that if anybody was involved, who was any of  our immediate family, if everybody was okay.
Q	And it’s your testimony that when you got there you didn’t see any injured people, is that right?
A.	Yeah, I didn’t see much of anything.
Q	You’ve seen some of the witnesses who testified in the State’s case out in the hall waiting to testify, right?
A.	Uh-hum.
Q	Did you see any of those people there at the fairgrounds that night?
A.	I didn’t recognize any of them, no.
Q	Did you in fact see any injured persons out at the fairgrounds?
A.	No.
Q	And so to the best of your knowledge, no one was injured, is that right?
A.	To the best of my knowledge, but I didn’t see everything, so –
Q	Well, you ran to the location where the fight was taking place, correct?
A.	Uh-hum.
Q	And there was only one location as you understand it, or not?
A.	As I – yeah, as I understand it, uh-hum.
Q	Did you see anyone carrying any bats?
A.	No.
Q	As you approached the location where apparently the fight had taken place, could you see people either coming or going to that location?
A.	Yes, both.
Q	So you could see both, is that right?
A.	Uh-hum.
Q	Ma’am you don’t want anything bad to happen to your husband, do you?
A.	No, of course not.
Q	You love your husband?
A.	Yes I  do.

MR. BOENING: Nothing further.
THE COURT: Re direct for the defense.
MR. BRANDBORG: Northing further, Your Honor.
THE COURT: And for the defense, may this witness be excused?
MR. BRANDBORG: Yes.
THE COURT: For the State of North Dakota, may this witness be excused?
MR. BOENING: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Ma’am, thank you, you’re free to go. For the defense, Mr. Brandborg.