ERIE — A judge dismissed two charges and declared a mistrial on the remaining counts Tuesday in the criminal case against former Neosho County Attorney Linus Thuston following a second day of testimony and jury deliberations. Thuston was acquitted on one count of perjury by a jury.
At the start of the day, Senior Judge Gunnar Sundby granted a defense motion for acquittal on Counts Four and Five, which alleged attempted obstruction of justice and trying to dissuade a witness from reporting to law enforcement. The judge ruled the state failed to present sufficient evidence of specific intent, threats or coercion, calling the contact between Thuston and witnesses “ambiguous” and lacking a clear nexus to an ongoing investigation.
The court denied defense motions for acquittal on the remaining perjury-related counts, including arguments based on the “two-witness rule” and materiality, or relevance to the case. The judge ruled that there was sufficient evidence for the charges to proceed to the jury, although the issue of materiality was taken under advisement before ultimately allowing the case to move forward.
The defense presented several witnesses, including former prosecutors and law enforcement officials, who testified that Thuston routinely received information from community members and that such contacts did not necessarily constitute confidential informant activity.
Thuston also testified in his own defense, saying his prior testimony was based on his understanding at the time and that he used the term “informant” broadly to describe people who provided him information, not formal confidential informants. He denied intentionally lying under oath and said any inaccuracies were the result of faulty recollection, not deception.
The state called attorney Jeb Griebat as a rebuttal witness, who testified about a phone conversation between Thuston and a witness following the July 2024 hearing. Griebat said Thuston apologized during the call and indicated he would contact prosecutors to correct the record.
After the closing arguments, the jury went into deliberations at approximately 3:45 pm Tuesday afternoon. Judge Sundby recalled the jury to the courtroom at 5:00 pm for a status check.
Jurors returned verdicts of not guilty on Count Two and were unable to reach unanimous decisions on Counts One and Three, voting 9–3 on the remaining charges. The judge declared a mistrial on those counts.
A future hearing will be scheduled to determine whether the remaining charges will be retried.
A full story about the case and trial will be included in a future edition of this publication.
