SPOKANE, Wash. – We have confirmed that Judge Maryann Moreno has delcared a mistrial in the first-degree murder trial of John Radavich.
Radavich is charged with killing 35-year-old Bob Tester, who is the nephew of U.S. Senator Jon Tester. At this point we don’t know why the mistrial was declared, but a judicial assistant for Judge Moreno says next week there is a conference to set a new trial date.
Bob Tester was killed in September of 2016. According to court documents, Tester’s 8-year-old daughter told investigators she saw a man stab her father with a sword at the Spangle home where they lived. She called her grandparents, who then called authorities.
Detectives were able to find and arrest Radavich after, according to court documents, he called a friend in late December of 2016 and said he’d killed a man who he blamed for abusing a 17-year-old girl both Tester and Radavich had dated.
Thursday’s mistrial was called just hours before Tester’s daughter was set to take the stand.
