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Judge questions charge in North Dakota killing
• BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- The judge overseeing a homicide trial in Bismarck is questioning whether prosecutors filed the right charge in the case. • Joshua Clark, 20, is on trial on a charge of conspiracy to commit murder. Authorities allege that Clark and Theo Crowe, 26, conspired last year to kill John Swain, 18, who had recently moved to Bismarck from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, when he was slain and dismembered in an apparent random killing. • Crowe pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge in the case last October and was sentenced in January to life in prison. On Tuesday he refused to testify against Clark. • "I don't want anything to do with this," he said in court. • A conspiracy charge requires agreement among at least two people. Without Crowe's testimony, Judge Bruce Haskell said he was "struggling with the agreement part of this" and questioned whether a different charge against Clark might be more appropriate. • "Maybe we've got accomplice or facilitating here," Haskell said. "Maybe we've got a couple other things." • However, Haskell denied a defense motion that Clark be acquitted on the con
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