Tyrah Brown pleads in murder, theft case

SANDPOINT - Tyrah Brea Brown entered a conditional guilty plea to an amended murder charge on Friday.

Brown pleaded to being an accessory to second-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of a Priest Lake man in 2007. She also pleaded guilty to grand theft by possession of stolen property.

Both pleas were entered as part of an agreement between the state and the defense. Both parties are asking a 1st District Court judge to join the agreement, which proposes suspended prison sentences, local jail time and restitution.

Judge John Patrick Luster took the plea agreement under advisement. A sentencing hearing is tentatively planned next month.

Under the agreement, the first-degree murder charge would be downgraded and the theft charge would remain unchanged. The state and defense are jointly recommending a two- to five-year sentence on the accessory-to-murder charge and a four- to 12-year year sentence on the felony theft charge.

The maximum sentence for the accessory charge is five years in prison and the theft charge is punishable by up to 14 years.

The plea agreement proposes suspended, concurrent prison sentences. Brown would then serve six months in a county jail and be ordered to pay restitution through a civil judgment against her.

After methodically advising Brown of her various rights, Luster accepted her pleas as knowing and voluntary. He asked Brown if she had any reluctance about the agreement she was entering into.

"No, sir," said Brown.

If Luster declines to be party to the agreement, Brown could withdraw her pleas and proceed to trial as originally charged.

Brown, 27, has been jailed for nearly two years in connection with the shooting death of Leslie Carlton Breaw, 48, in January 2007. Brown's husband, Keith, was also charged with first-degree murder and grand theft and is scheduled to be tried this summer.

The grand theft charge stems from a $56,000 escrow check made out to Breaw, but which was deposited into a bank account the couple had and later converted to cash after they fled Idaho.

Tyrah Brown maintains she was not present when Breaw was shot in the head with a .22-caliber rifle on his property in Coolin. Keith Brown, also 48, contends Breaw's shooting was anything but premeditated.

Tyrah Brown initially confessed to the killing, but later recanted. A polygraph examination supported her assertion that she was not directly involved in the shooting. The amended murder charge to which she pled states she was aware of the slaying, but withheld the information from investigators and harbored her husband.

"She essentially assisted her husband after the murder," Bonner County Prosecutor-elect Louis Marshall said after the hearing. "We're satisfied our theory of the crime is the right one."

The two sides agreed to a 180-day jail sentence instead of retained jurisdiction because Tyrah Brown is undergoing counseling in Boundary County. If jurisdiction was retained, Brown would serve the same amount of time in prison before becoming eligible for probation.

Tyrah Brown's defense attorney, Serra Woods, said her client is making good progress with her counselor.

"We want that to continue," Woods told Luster.

After the hearing, Woods said she and her client are pleased with the terms of the agreement.

"She's looking forward to moving on," Woods said.