GOSHEN COUNTY – The Goshen County District Court on Friday, August 30, 2024, granted a Motion to Vacate and Continue the trial for 20-year-old Pinedale resident Gaige Zook. 

‘In light of counsel’s trial schedule and previously planned vacation, there is insufficient time to prepare for trial in this serious criminal matter and in fact counsel will be absent from the country for the first day of the trial,’ the motion read. 

With the motion to vacate, the trial is set for January 6, 2025. Zook concurrently filed a waiver of a speedy trial with the same motion.

Zook is facing a manslaughter charge in a felony-level court for a January 20, 2024, hunting accident which left a 19-year-old Minnesota resident, Maurizio Dadin Justiniano, dead. 

Zook pled not guilty to the manslaughter charge on June 18, 2024 and the trial had been set to begin October 28, 2024.  

According to the arrest warrant dated April 8, Zook and three males were duck hunting along the North Platte River near the junction of Wyoming State Highway 156 and County Road 37, outside of Torrington, when the accident occurred. 

Court documents indicated that Zook was sitting between two other men and when he attempted to shoot at a duck, his gun misfired. According to the affidavit, Zook then leaned his gun against a fallen tree and borrowed his hunting companion’s 20-gauge shotgun. After shooting at the duck and missing, Zook then went back to his gun to check into the problem.

“As he (Zook) was trying to evaluate his firearm, due to the misfire, the shotgun discharged, striking Maurizio in the left side of his abdominal area,” the affidavit continued.

“I believe that Gaige Zook failed to properly and safely clear his weapon of malfunctions and by having it pointed in an unsafe direction when it discharged directly led to and caused the death of Maurizio Justiniano,” court documents read.