Plea struck in shooting case

SANDPOINT — A Sandpoint man pleaded guilty Monday for his involvement in a shooting incident in downtown last summer.

Homer James Shinn IV entered the plea during his arraignment in 1st District Court. In exchange for pleading guilty to one count of aggravated assault, a second count was dismissed.

Shinn, 19, faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced early next year, although a pretrial settlement offer proposes suspending the prison term and imposing a local jail sentence with credit for time served.

The sentence is ultimately up to the judge, however.

Shinn was accused of firing gunshots at two people during a night of heavy drinking on Aug. 17 at the Elliott Hotel. Shinn holed up in one of the rooms, prompting the Bonner County Sheriff’s Emergency Response Team to deploy a noise flash diversionary device while breaching a door in order to seize Shinn.

A .22-caliber rifle and a 12-gauge shotgun were recovered from the room Shinn was in.

There were no injuries, although a gunfire tore past two men.

In his written plea, explained why he was accepting the pretrial settlement offer.

“That’s what I feel I should be charged with,” he wrote.

Judge Steve Verby accepted Shinn’s plea as knowing and voluntary and set a sentencing hearing for Jan. 19, court records show.