Baker City Man Faces May Trial in 2024 Stabbing of Local Resident

James Robert Blitch, 55, will stand trial May 5 in Baker County Circuit Court, accused of stabbing Baker City resident Jerry Dean Littleton on March 5, 2024, in an attack that left Littleton, then 57, wounded but alive.

The central charge is second-degree assault, an offense that carries a mandatory minimum prison sentence if Blitch is convicted. He was arrested March 26, 2024, three weeks after the alleged stabbing, and has remained in Baker County Jail through more than two years of pretrial proceedings.

Reaching the May 5 date has not been straightforward. Defense counsel has filed motions addressing the testimony of an expert witness and whether certain witnesses will testify in person or appear remotely, disputes that contributed to prior continuances and complicated the case's path through Baker County Circuit Court. Heading into the final weeks before trial, whether a critical defense witness will appear remains an open question, one that has repeatedly surfaced in hearings and is still unresolved.

For Littleton's family and the wider Baker City community, the approaching date carries real weight. Blitch has been in custody since March 2024, meaning the case will have stretched more than 25 months from arrest to the first day of trial. In a county where community members often know the parties on both sides of a case, the outcome will be closely watched for both public-safety reassurance and accountability to the victim.

A conviction on the second-degree assault charge would trigger mandatory minimum sentencing under state law, removing judicial discretion from that portion of the outcome. How the remaining witness disputes are resolved in the coming weeks may ultimately determine whether May 5 holds.