New trial granted in Herreid bar arson case

April 21--A new trial was granted this week for a Herreid woman convicted in February of arson, conspiracy to commit arson and insurance fraud.

The trial for Lori Brandner, 42, will be Aug. 3-5.

According to the attorney general's office, Brandner will be retried on all charges and has been released on bond pending the new trial.

Brandner was found guilty by a Campbell County jury of plotting with three others to set the fire that badly damaged the Road House Bar and Grill in Herreid in January 2015. She was a co-owner of the business.

Immediately following the February trial, Brandner's attorney, BradSchreiber of Pierre, first asked for an acquittal, then a new trial. His primary concern was an answer given to the jury during deliberation. A question from the jury asked for clarification on one of the jury instructions that cited two criteria with which to determine Brandner's guilt:

-- That she acted with the intent to destroy the Road House Bar and Grill and collect the insurance money.

-- That those she aided and abetted acted with the intent to destroy the bar.

The jury asked if one criteria or the other could be used to determine guilt. The judge's response was yes. In essence, Schreiber said that answer was incorrect.

Judge Scott Myren, who presided over the original trial, also granted the new trial.

In written arguments against a new trial, prosecutors said the jury instruction only pertained to Brandner's guilt or innocence of the aiding and abetting charge. Therefore, they said, she shouldn't be allowed a new trial on all three charges. Prosecutors also argued that objections about jury instruction language should have been raised at the time the instructions were finalized.

Cheyenne Davis, 20, of Pollock and two North Dakota men, Ryan Kaelberer, 21, and Tyler Armbrust, 23, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit arson prior to Brandner's trial. All three testified at the trial. Davis has yet to be sentenced. Kaelberer and Armbrust were both sentenced to one year in prison.

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