The scheduled fall trial for a cross-country murder-for-hire case that ended with a Northeast Kingdom man gunned down

BURLINGTON – The scheduled fall trial for a cross-country murder-for-hire case that ended with a Northeast Kingdom man gunned down in January 2018 has been postponed. Chief Federal Judge Christina Reiss agreed Friday afternoon to the delay after one of the primary defense lawyers, Ethan A. Balogh of San Francisco, said in court that he was diagnosed recently with cancer. Balogh is co-counsel for Serhat D. Gumrukcu, 41, of Los Angeles, who was due to go on trial in the U.S. District Court in Burlington starting Sept. 24 with a jury draw. The trial was scheduled to run for up to 5 weeks. Gumrukcu is the man police say ordered the hit of Gregory Davis, 49, of Danville, who was going to blow the whistle on a multimillion-dollar fraud involving international investment in an oil deal.