Hearing reset in Priest Lake murder case
SANDPOINT — An evidentiary hearing to determine if a Bonner County Sheriff’s detective misled a judge in seeking an arrest warrant in a Priest Lake murder investigation has been reset for Nov. 13.
A Franks hearing in Keith Allen Brown’s first-degree murder case was originally slated for Aug. 19, but was called off at the last minute because the sheriff’s investigator was away on military service.
District Judge Fred Gibler ordered a Franks hearing in May, after Brown’s defense counsel, Dan Sheckler, made a preliminary showing that there was a reckless disregard for the truth when the detective applied for the warrant.
The hearing earns its name from a U.S. Supreme Court case out of Delaware which is often used to nullify evidence and statements garnered as a result of a tainted warrant.
Brown, 49, was apprehended in Florida several months after Leslie Carlton Breaw was slain near his home in Coolin in early 2007. Breaw, 48, was killed by a gunshot to the head fired from a .22-caliber rifle.
Brown’s estranged wife, Tyrah, was also implicated in the shooting, but she subsequently pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting murder in the second degree and was given a suspended prison sentence after serving nearly two years in jail. She has since filed for divorce.
At issue during the Franks hearing are alleged omissions Det. Tony Ingram made when applying for the warrant used to apprehend the couple in Fort Myers Beach, Fla. The original warrants sought the Browns for unauthorized use of Breaw’s financial transaction card.
Sheckler argued Ingram did not advise Judge Barbara Buchanan there were reports that Keith Brown was authorized to use Breaw’s card and sightings of Breaw after his card was last used. Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall countered that the reports were immaterial.
At this fall’s Franks hearing, the defense will have the burden of proving its allegations by a preponderance of the evidence in order to prevail.
Keith Brown has pleaded not guilty to murder and alleges Breaw was shot in a struggle over the firearm during a confrontation in which Breaw was the aggressor.
His trial is set for this spring.