Man Charged in Fatal Testicle Festival Crash Postpones Trial
The man charged with two counts of negligent homicide and several other counts of felony criminal endangerment after allegedly causing a rollover crash following the 2017 Testicle Festival, James Bayford, now has a new trial date.
Chief Deputy County Attorney Jason Marks explains why Bayford’s trial, which was supposed to have been in October, has been moved to January.
“Mr. Bayford hired a new attorney in August and that attorney was not going to be prepared to proceed with the trial date we had set, so they asked for a continuance of the trial, and the judge moved it to the first available date which was in January,” said Marks.
Marks provided details of the incident that occurred in the summer of 2017.
“Essentially, he is charged with yanking the steering wheel of a shuttle that was coming back from the Testicle Festival and causing a rollover crash,” he said. “That crash killed two of the other passengers and resulted in a number of other injuries.”
Killed in the crash were 36 year-old Donny Barlow and 33 year-old Vanessa Anderson, both from Missoula.
Marks explains the possible penalties should Bayford be found guilty on all counts.
“The negligent homicide charges each carry 20 year penalties and the criminal endangerment charges each carry a maximum penalty of 10 years, so the maximum he would be facing if convicted on all charges would be 100 years in prison,” he said.
Marks said Bayford has been in custody since his original arrest in August of 2017.