Murder Trial of Former Police Chief Begins Monday in Burke

BURKE, S.D. (AP) — A former South Dakota police chief goes on trial this week, years after he claimed that his young fiancee was shot and killed in a tragic hunting accident.

The Argus Leader reports the trial of 64-year-old Russell Bertram is scheduled to begin Monday in Burke. He is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 26-year-old Leonila Stickney.

Prosecutors suggest in court filings that the case involves money, jealousy and tangled relationships.

Bertram says he was putting his shotgun back into his truck in October 2009 when it went off accidentally, striking Stickney in the abdomen.

The newspaper reports critics of the shotgun model that Bertram says accidentally went off have said that one of its mechanisms is flawed. At least one gun expert has examined Bertram's shotgun.

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