The Vermont Superior Courthouse in Bennington. File photo by Mike Dougherty/VTDiggerCiting “a regrettable oversight” by the prosecution, a superior court judge last week denied the state’s request to delay the murder trial of a Bennington man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend in 2019 pending more DNA tests, prompting the prosecutor to dismiss the case.The judge’s decision, less than a week before the trial was set to begin, came eight months after a defense lawyer for Deven Moffitt asked the court to throw out his second-degree murder charge, citing insufficient evidence. Moffitt, however, remains in custody and is awaiting sentencing following his conviction on federal drug and firearm charges last May.On Monday, the Bennington County State’s Attorney’s Office formally dismissed the murder charge “without prejudice,” leaving open the possibility that it could be refiled after further DNA testing was completed. The dismissal was first reported by the Bennington Banner.Moffitt was arrested in connection with the death of Jessica Hildenbrandt in July 2019. Hildenbrandt had been missing for months before her remains were discovered near an abandoned gravel pit in Searsburg. The remains were initially identified as belonging to the victim in 2020 by the Vermont Chief Medical Examiner’s Office, but required confirmation tests had not been completed as the trial was scheduled to get underway.Deputy State’s Attorney Jared Bianchi told the court at a pre-trial hearing last week that an earlier database match linked the remains to Jessica Hildenbrandt but that no further testing had been conducted to confirm it. Believing the match had been verified through dental records, Bianchi discovered last week that was not the case. With DNA analysis unable to directly connect the remains to Hildenbrandt or her family, he requested the delay to allow for expedited testing of DNA samples from the victim’s relatives, with results expected in two weeks.But in her Jan. 3 ruling, Bennington Superior Court Judge Kerry McDonald-Cady said the delay was not reasonable as the state had had enough time to figure it out. “The necessity to confirm that the remains were, in fact, Ms. Hildenbrandt’s through additional DNA genetic testing of a living relative of hers was known,” McDonald-Cady wrote in her decision.In denying the state’s request for a further continuance, the judge noted that the trial had already been pushed back.“This is not a case of the State acting in bad faith in causing the error in which it seeks more time to cure with additional evidence,” the judge wrote. “Nonetheless, the State’s error is due to its regrettable oversight that should have been identified and cured during its trial preparation for the May jury trial date, and given that trial continuance, well before December 31, 2024.”Bennington County State’s Attorney Erica Marthage did not return phone messages left by VTDigger this week, but she told the Bennington Banner that the state remained confident that additional forensic testing would verify the remains found in Searsburg belong to Hildenbrandt. She added that the case would be refiled if the testing confirmed the identification. Read the story on VTDigger here: DNA issues prompt dismissal of Bennington man’s murder case.