The evidence against Jochen Wiest, the 29-year-old man accused of setting fire to one of the Toomer's Oaks, is enough to continue prosecution, Lee County District Court Judge Steve Speakman decided in a preliminary hearing today.
Wiest, who was not present at the hearing, is charged with felony criminal mischief, public intoxication and desecration of a venerated object.
Margaret Brown, Wiest's lawyer, argued that the oak tree should not be considered a "venerated object," defined by Alabama Code as a "public monument or structure or place of worship or burial," because it was planted just last year.
The new Magnolia Avenue Oak was planted to replace one of the two trees poisoned in 2010 by Harvey Updyke, whom Brown also represented. Brown asserted that the significance of the new trees is not the same as the original Oaks that previously stood at Toomer's Corner for 79 years.
The prosecutor retorted that a monument did not have to be old to be considered "venerated."
Ultimately, Speakman determined that the question over the status of the tree was a legal issue to be addressed in a possible trial, not in the hearing.
In a letter to the Auburn Police Division, interim Auburn University Public Safety Director Chance Corbett said Gary Keever, an University horticulture professor, predicted the tree could cost $15,000– 20,000 to replace.
Brown moved to strike the letter, contending that Keever also said in a television interview that the full extent of the damage could not be ascertained until sometime in the spring. Speakman denied the motion.
Brown also noted that there was not an interpreter present when Wiest, a German national, gave his original statement to police.
Wiest's case will now move on to a grand jury in the Circuit Court for Lee County, which will determine whether or not Wiest will stand trial. There is no date for the grand jury set at this time.
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