Murder trial venue shifts

SANDPOINT — The venue for Keith Allen Brown’s trial for first-degree murder has been moved to Shoshone County

Keith Allen Brown’s defense counsel moved for a change of venue last week.

“The grounds for the aforesaid motion are that excessive media coverage has prejudiced the Defendant’s case, and there is a reasonable likelihood that exists that pretrial publicity has affected impartiality of potential prospective jurors as demonstrated in Exhibit A,” attorney Dan Sheckler said in the Jan. 14 motion.

Exhibit A consisted of scores of newspaper articles reporting on the 2007 Priest Lake murder case against Brown and his former wife, Tyrah Harding.

First District Judge Fred Gibler approved the defense motion on Tuesday.

Brown’s trial was to start in Bonner County in March. A new trial date is pending.

Sheckler had no comment Wednesday on the court’s ruling.

Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall did not object the defense motion, according to court documents. Marshall said on Wednesday that he believes Harding’s plea to a lesser charge in the case factored into Gibler’s ruling.

Brown, 49, and Harding, 28, were charged with first-degree murder for the shooting death of Leslie Carlton Breaw at Priest Lake in early 2007. They were also charged with grand theft for possessing a $56,000 escrow check that belonged to Breaw.

Breaw’s body was discovered within walking distance of his Coolin home the following spring. He was killed by a .22-caliber gunshot to the head. The day after the grisly discovery, Brown and Harding were apprehended in Fort Myers Beach, Fla.

Brown has strongly maintained he is innocent of murder and theft. He has alleged that Breaw was shot accidentally in a struggle over control of the weapon and asserted that Breaw gave him the check as compensation for paralegal work he did on Breaw’s behalf.

Harding pleaded guilty to accessory to second-degree murder last year and was released onto probation with a suspended prison sentence after serving nearly two years in jail.