A Grand Junction man set to go back on trial more than 30 years after being sentenced for a string of deadly bombings will not get a new hearing on his lesser convictions, even though the relevant evidence is the same.
James Genrich was convicted in 1993 on charges related to a series of bombings that killed Henry Ruble and Maria Dolores Gonzales. Thirty years later, a 21st Judicial District judge ordered a new trial for Genrich’s first-degree murder charges after attorneys from the Innocence Project successfully argued that the toolmark analysis used to convict Genrich was based on debunked forensic science.
Specifically, an expert in the original trial argued that marks made on the exploded bombs could only have been made by tools owned by Genrich, “to the exclusion of all others.”
That new trial is set to begin in April, following years of appeals. However, an effort by Genrich’s defense team to also reconsider the explosives and assault charges he was convicted of will not go forward because of the timeline in which the request was filed.
In a 2023 motion, attorneys for Genrich asked the court to take up a second postconviction relief issue and allow for a challenge to the other charges.
Attorneys noted that the evidence for the murder charges and the lesser charges amounted to the same facts, saying “Mr. Genrich could remain in prison on a 72-year aggregate sentence for convictions that have been rendered unreliable by the same newly discovered evidence that this Court ruled required a new trial on the first degree murder counts.”
The other charges in question include three felony counts of use of explosives and a misdemeanor assault charge.
At issue, however, is not the evidence on the lesser charges but when the motion to challenge them was filed. In contrast with the murder charges, there is a time limit to file a challenge to the lesser convictions. The 21st Judicial District Attorney's Office says that the limit has passed.
“Having successfully litigated the primary counts, the defense now seeks to backtrack and revive the secondary claims they previously chose to leave dormant,” prosecutors argued in a January motion response. “However, the statute of limitations does not permit a defendant to litigate claims in installments to suit their strategic preferences.”
Genrich’s defense team argued that, at the time the motion should have been filed, Genrich had ineffective counsel and therefore should be allowed to make the claim now.
In a ruling issued earlier this month, 21st Judicial District Chief Judge Brian Flynn sided with the district attorney’s office, saying the motion was too late.
"Defendant's conclusion that his Petition is not time-barred is wholly unfounded and lacks arguable merit,” Flynn ruled, saying that even the most generous reading of the timeline still showed that the appeal came too late. “Defendant is not entitled to an evidentiary hearing as his motion is untimely.”
Genrich was sentenced to life in prison on May 12, 1993. He’s currently at the Arkansas Valley Correctional Facility, which is about 50 miles east of Pueblo. On the three felony convictions for use of explosives, he was sentenced to 24 years on each count.
