Itasca County judge denies change of venue for Nashwauk hit-and-run case

GRAND RAPIDS — A Grand Rapids woman’s criminal vehicular homicide case will remain in Itasca County.

Cynthia "Cyndy" Martin allegedly hit and killed 19-year-old Carter Haithcock last summer and then left the scene. Judge Heidi Chandler denied Martin’s request for a change of venue on Wednesday, Aug. 20.

Minnesota law generally requires a case to be tried in the county where the offense was committed but gives the court discretion to grant or deny change of venue request in order to ensure a fair trial.

Martin’s lawyers argued that pretrial publicity prevented a fair trial in Itasca County, pointing to Facebook groups where the case has been discussed, “monitoring” of Martin’s whereabouts and online activity by community members, “incomplete” media coverage that implied guilt and “community members notifying law enforcement when potential witnesses for Defendant’s case express their opinions.”

“Defendant argues that once members of the community learned of Defendant’s political involvement and leanings, the decedent’s death became a political battle, furthering the interest, publicity, and online commentary hoping for Defendant’s conviction,” Chandler wrote in her order.

Martin is chair of the 8th Congressional District DFL and vice chair of the Itasca County DFL, according to their websites.

Prosecutors proposed mitigation measures to ensure a fair trial, including jury questionnaires, a larger-than-normal prospective juror pool and giving the defense more preemptory or no-reason challenges to prospective jurors.

“This Court acknowledges the amount of inflammatory rhetoric that has been directed at Defendant, and the concerning monitoring of her family members and whereabouts,” Chandler wrote.

“However, given the State’s proposed measures for mitigating any prejudice among potential jurors, there is not a reasonable likelihood of an unfair trial.”

Chandler said there is no presumption of prejudice because there has not been “massive” coverage of the case. The Facebook groups the defense cited only contain a maximum of 4,000 members, assuming no overlap. Additionally, Chandler said the news coverage has been primarily factual, and the articles the defense cited were published when Martin was charged in November 2024.

“A significant amount of time will have passed between the media coverage of the incident and trial, mitigating any potential prejudice,” she wrote.

Chandler did leave open the opportunity for Martin to renew a change of venue request if new information arises to support such a change.

Martin is also seeking to have the charge dismissed based on lack of evidence or to suppress all evidence after a field sobriety test, alleging law enforcement lacked a basis for investigating Martin for impaired driving.

The defense filed its brief Aug. 18 in place of a closing argument in the July 21 pretrial hearing. The state’s response is due Sept. 8, after which the judge has 30 days to take the issues under advisement and issue a ruling.