Questions persist in arson case

SANDPOINT — Dueling mental health evaluations are bringing complexity to the case against a developmentally disabled man accused of setting a motel fire.

An Idaho Department of Health & Welfare evaluation holds that David Holden Irby is competent to stand trial for first-degree arson. A subsequent evaluation, however, concludes that he is unfit to enter a plea to a reduced charge of felony vandalism.

In order to accept a plea, the court must find the defendant is entering it knowingly, voluntarily and intelligently.

The defense maintains Irby has been evaluated so much by Health & Welfare that he can give correct answers to questions by rote, but still does not understand the ramifications of the things he says and does.

“I have a client that cannot assist counsel,” Chief Public Defender Isabella Robertson said during a hearing in Irby’s case on Tuesday.

Robertson suggested furloughing Irby to his mother’s custody or putting him up at a state hospital. Under either scenario, Irby would undergo further mental health treatment.

Bonner County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Phil Robinson called the situation “extraordinarily bizarre,” but opposed a furlough and declined to abandon the case.

“We’re certainly not going to dismiss,” Robinson said, explaining that the risk to the public is too great because Irby has set fires in the past.

Adding yet more complexity is the fact that Irby cannot waive his right to a speedy trial because such a decision also has to be knowing, voluntary and intelligent.

First District Judge Steve Verby entered a not guilty on Irby’s behalf and scheduled a trial for March, but gave the defense the option of scheduling a status conference to further discuss the case.

Irby, an 18-year-old from Bastrop, La., was charged with first-degree arson following a blaze at the Quality Inn on Fifth Avenue on Oct. 7, 2009. He allegedly set fire to a paper towel dispenser in an upstairs restroom.

There were no injuries, although damage to the motel exceeded $1,000, according to court documents.