Harding in trouble with the law again

SANDPOINT — A Bonner County woman implicated in the killing of a Priest Lake man in 2007 is back behind bars again.

Tyrah Brea Harding is charged with unauthorized use of a vehicle without the owner’s consent, a felony. She was also cited for driving without privileges.

Judge William Hamlett set Harding’s bail at $5,000 on Thursday and appointed a public defender to represent her, court documents indicate.

Harding, 27, was arrested after crashing a roommate’s Dodge Ram pickup truck on Selle Road shortly before midnight on Wednesday, a sheriff deputy’s report said. The vehicle’s 20-year-old owner, who lives at the same address as Harding, reported it stolen and wanted her charged with theft.

Harding told the deputy she was using the truck to escape an abusive boyfriend, who also lived at the address shared by her and the truck’s owner.

It’s the second time Harding has been arrested since being placed on probation on charges stemming from the shooting death of Leslie Carlton Breaw, 48.

Harding and her former husband, Keith Allen Brown, were charged with first-degree murder and grand theft by possession of stolen property.

After spending nearly two years in jail awaiting trial, Harding pleaded guilty earlier this year to second-degree murder and grand theft through an agreement with the state.

Harding went on to divorce from Brown, who remains jailed while awaiting his trial in 1st District Court. The state and the defense are locked in a protracted dispute over the basis for Brown’s arrest in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., several months after Breaw was slain in Coolin.

Brown, 49, insists he is innocent of murder and the theft of $56,000 in escrow proceeds which the state alleges belonged to Breaw.

Harding was arrested last fall for drinking and using drugs, conduct which violated the terms of her probation. She spent a month in jail and was but back on probation last month.