Sentencing delayed in shooting case

SANDPOINT — Sentencing is on hold for a Washington state man convicted in Bonner County of lewd and lascivious conduct with a 5-year-old girl.

Mark Richard Boncz was to be sentenced Tuesday in 1st District Court, but it was postponed because he declined to be interviewed by a pre-sentence investigator without an attorney present, according to court documents.

The hearing was reset for March 1. He could be sentenced to life in prison.

Pre-sentence investigations examine a defendant’s social history, family ties, physical and mental health conditions, and criminal background. The ensuing reports are sealed from public view and judges use them when determining a sentence.

Boncz, a 54-year-old from Newport, Wash., was accused of molesting the girl in 2005.

A grand jury indicted Boncz on the lewd conduct charge last year and he was convicted following a bench trial last October.

Boncz opted to be tried by a judge rather than a jury because of pretrial publicity in the case. Boncz was convicted of sexual abuse of a minor in Bonner County in 1987.