Hearing ordered on evidence in PL murder case

SANDPOINT — Evidence being used against first-degree murder suspect Keith Allen Brown grew increasingly vulnerable on Friday.

District Judge Fred Gibler granted a defense motion for a hearing to determine whether a Bonner County Sheriff’s investigator showed a reckless disregard for the truth while testifying in support of an arrest warrant for Brown.

Brown’s defense counsel, Sandpoint attorney Dan Sheckler, made a substantial preliminary showing that Det. Tony Ingram withheld exculpatory information during a warrant hearing before Judge Barbara Buchanan on Feb. 6, 2007.

A final determination on the defense’s claims will be made following a Franks hearing, where Sheckler will have prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the omissions would have affected Buchanan’s finding that probable cause existed for the warrant.

The evidentiary hearing gets its name from a 1978 constitutional rights case from Delaware that was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

A date for the Franks hearing is pending. A ruling favorable to the defense could lead to the suppression of evidence gained during Brown’s arrest, including an alleged confession.

Brown, 48, was charged with the shooting death of Leslie Carlton Breaw, a Priest Lake man whose body was discovered within walking distance of his Coolin home in March 2007. Breaw, also 48, died of a .22-caliber gunshot wound to the head.

Prosecutors alleged Brown and his wife, Tyrah, murdered Breaw and stole a $56,000 escrow check belonging to the dead man before fleeing to Fort Myers Beach, Fla. Tyrah Brown, 27, later pleaded guilty to accessory to second-degree murder and grand theft by possession of stolen property.

The Browns were apprehended in Florida a day after Breaw’s remains were found. They were arrested for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution on a charge alleging they stole Breaw’s financial transaction card. Those charges were later supplanted by the murder and grand theft charges.

Sheckler argued on Friday that Ingram testified that no store owners at Priest Lake had reported seeing Breaw after his credit card was last used by Keith Brown at a Priest River gas station. However, at least two Priest Lake businessmen reported seeing Breaw after the card was used.

Sheckler also contended that Ingram disregarded statements from Tyrah Brown’s mother that Keith Brown had permission to used Breaw’s credit card, remarks which were not pointed out to the magistrate during or after the warrant hearing.

Sheckler emphasized the span of time between the warrant’s issuance and the Browns’ arrest was more than a month and said investigators overstepped their authority by disregarding Rebekah Harding’s statement about authorized use of the card.

“An officer has a duty to go back to the magistrate with new material information,” said Sheckler, who maintains deputies jumped the gun and jumped to conclusions during their investigation.

Prosecutor Louis Marshall rejected the defense’s allegations, countering that the remarks of Harding and the Priest Lake merchants were not material. Harding was initially considered a person of interest and a possible coconspirator in Breaw’s disappearance, said Marshall.

“In this case, there wasn’t a definite material change,” said Marshall, who argued the defense was merely taking potshots at a two-year-old investigation.

 But Gibler ruled that Sheckler had made an adequate preliminary showing that the exculpatory information could have affected Buchanan’s decision on the arrest warrant.

“The facts presented do warrant a Franks hearing in this case,” Gibler said.