Hearing delayed in murder case
SANDPOINT - A preliminary hearing for first-degree murder suspect James M. Anderson was postponed Wednesday to give more time for attorneys to review discovery material in the case.
Chief Public Defender Isabella Robertson and Bonner County Prosecutor-elect Louis Marshall agreed to move for a continuance, which was granted by Judge Eugene Marano.
The hearing was to decide whether Anderson should be tried in 1st District Court for murdering 30-year-old Eli Holt on Thanksgiving. Another preliminary hearing is set for Dec. 17.
Anderson is being held at the Bonner County Jail with bail set at $500,000, a sum Robertson is seeking to have reduced. A hearing on lesser bail is pending.
Anderson, 28, is accused of shooting Holt to death during a confrontation outside Anderson's trailer in Sagle on Nov. 27. Holt, according to a sheriff's detective, was shot in the face with a .44 magnum.
Detective Sgt. Howard Burke testified at a probable cause hearing that Anderson told him he retrieved the handgun after threats were made against him and his family during an alleged confrontation with Holt and Holt's half-brother, Ian James Freir, 23.
Anderson allegedly told the detective that he meant to scare Holt and Freir off when the weapon discharged. Anderson said he forgot cocking the pistol's hammer and it fired when he threatened Holt with the weapon, Burke testified.
The deadly altercation at the Travel America mobile home park is apparently linked to an Oct. 1 beating in which Anderson was identified as a potential suspect.
In that incident, a 29-year-old employee of Unicep Packaging told Sandpoint Police he was taking a cigarette break in his car when somebody reached in and grabbed him by the throat while another man, identified as Patrick Keith Eroso Ziarnick, began punching him in the face.
The victim, a police report said, suspected the beating was revenge for dating Ziarnick's former girlfriend, a woman who subsequently became Ziarnick's wife.
The victim in the beating is said to be a close personal friend of Holt's.
The victim speculated that Anderson was the one who restrained him because he was Ziarnick's roommate at the time, according to a police report. Anderson was also described in the report as the brother-in-law of Ziarnick's wife.
Several employees of Unicep identified Ziarnick as one of the culprits because he used to work there, the report said. Witnesses were unable to identify Anderson by name, but gave descriptions which closely resembled that of Anderson.
Ziarnick, also 29, is awaiting trial on a misdemeanor battery charge.
Anderson was never charged in connection with the beating, although the prosecution has put the defense on notice it intends to use the incident as evidence against him in the murder case, court records show.
In other court filings, the defense is seeking access to the Ford F-250 pickup Holt used to drive to Anderson's home.
The truck, which court records indicate is owned by Freir, has already been the subject of a search warrant sought by the state. Burke had testified that bullet fragments shattered a side window and were seen in the bed of the truck.