Defense seeks to suppress evidence

SANDPOINT — The defense is going on the offense in the case of a former Bonner County man charged with the first-degree murder.

Counsel for Keith Allen Brown has filed a motion to suppress evidence on grounds there was insufficient probable cause to arrest and search his former residence. Defense attorney Dan Sheckler has also filed a formal challenge to statements a sheriff’s detective made in seeking the warrants from a magistrate court judge.

Hearings on the motions are pending in 1st District Court.

Brown, 48, is awaiting trial on charges alleging he murdered Leslie Carlton Breaw at Priest Lake in January 2007 and made off with a $56,000 escrow check belonging to the dead man.

Breaw, also 48, was reported missing and his remains were discovered within walking distance of his Coolin home several months after he was shot to death. Brown and his wife, Tyrah, were arrested in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., within days of the discovery.

Tyrah Brown, 27, entered into a plea agreement which reduced the murder charge to accessory to murder in the second degree. She was given suspended prison sentences of four to 12 years and ordered to serve five months in jail.

Keith Brown quickly emerged as a suspect in Breaw’s disappearance. Judge Barbara Buchanan issued arrest and search warrants in February 2007. Detective Tony Ingram testified that Brown was captured on video using Breaw’s debit card at Mac’s convenience store in Priest River the previous month.

The arrest warrant was for unlawful use of a transaction card, a charge which is no longer being pursued. Evidence from the arrest and searches, however, was used to inform the murder and theft charges.

But Sheckler argues evidence resulting from the arrest and search, which includes Keith Brown’s alleged confession to shooting Breaw, should be suppressed because there was no evidence showing he was using the card without Breaw’s permission.

“The conclusion that the transaction card was used or possessed without his authorization is total speculation,” Sheckler said in the motion to suppress.

Sheckler is also challenging the constitutionality of the searches because Ingram failed to advise Buchanan of exculpatory evidence in the case.

Sheckler said in court documents that Ingram knew Keith Brown had permission to use the debit card and neglected to inform the court that several people reported seeing Breaw after the debit card had been used at Mac’s.