BORDERLAND
Aug. trial for Mich. man set for 1983 death of teen
2/6/2014A former Swanton Township man charged in the 1983 slaying of a Whitehouse woman is to go on trial in August in Lucas County Common Pleas Court.
Judge Gary Cook on Wednesday scheduled a two-week trial for Andrew Gustafson, 56, of Birch Run, Mich., to begin Aug. 18. Mr. Gustafson was indicted in June on two counts of aggravated murder and one count of murder for the death of Janean Brown, 19, whose body was found buried in a ditch along Archbold-Whitehouse Road on Nov. 19, 1983. Her throat had been cut.
Judge Cook told Mr. Gustafson the court was agreeing to the August trial date to allow his attorneys time to receive all the evidence in the case and have their own experts examine it.
The judge also set a March 6 hearing to hear arguments on motions filed in the case, including a determination of whether Mr. Gustafson is indigent and therefore unable to pay for “an investigator and medical and scientific experts” for his defense.