Judge OKs reduced bond

SANDPOINT — District Judge Steve Verby approved a $300,000 bail-reduction request on Monday for a Sagle man charged with second-degree murder.

The state and the defense moved jointly to reduce James Matthew Anderson’s bail from $500,000 to $200,000, despite objections from members of shooting victim Eli Holt’s family.

Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall justified the reduced bail by pointing to the case of Keith Allen Brown, who is awaiting trial on a charge of first-degree murder in connection with a killing at Priest Lake in 2007.

Brown’s bail is set at $500,000. Brown, Marshall said, has a lengthy criminal history and was attempting to leave the country when he was

apprehended by the FBI in Fort Myers Beach, Fla.

Anderson’s attorney, Chief Public Defender Isabella Robertson, has argued in court documents that her client’s bail was unconstitutionally excessive.

In granting the stipulated request, Verby ordered that Anderson have no contact with the victim’s family or witnesses in the case. Robertson heartily agreed and indicated Anderson’s safety has been threatened.

“He is afraid for his life,” said Robertson.

The remark was met with scoffs of disbelief from the courtroom gallery, which contained friends and family of Holt.

Anderson, 29, was charged with murder in the first degree for shooting Holt in the face with a .44-caliber pistol on Nov. 27, 2008. The charge was later downgraded after a judge ruled there was insufficient evidence to sustain an allegation that the shooting was premeditated.

Bonner County sheriff’s officials have testified that Holt, 30, went to Anderson’s home in Sagle to question him about his participation in a beating of one his close friends. Anderson and Patrick Keith Eroso Ziarnick were accused of ambushing Holt’s friend outside a Sandpoint business on Oct. 1, 2008.

Ziarnick, also 30, was charged with misdemeanor battery and sentenced to 20 days in jail. Anderson is awaiting trial on that charge.

Members of Holt’s family are opposing reduced bail because of Anderson’s involvement in the attack at Unicep Packaging and his loose ties to the area.

“I find it inconceivable that he is not a flight risk,” Delwyn Goff, Holt’s uncle, said in a letter to Marshall.

Goff also disagrees with the court’s decision to amend the charge against Anderson. Goff maintains Anderson had ample time to consider his actions when he disengaged from the argument, went inside to arm himself and reemerged with the weapon.

Anderson’s trial on the murder charge is tentatively planned for June.