Slain man's mother calls for maximum sentence

SANDPOINT — The mother of a Priest Lake man who was shot to death is calling for the maximum sentence for the man who was implicated in the shooting.

“I am writing you, beseeching you for a maximum prison sentence for this heartless beast,” Phyllis Breaw Scott said of defendant Keith Allen Brown in a Oct. 12 letter to the 1st District judge presiding in the case.

Brown, 50, is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 5 on reduced charges of voluntary manslaughter and accessory to grand theft.

Brown and his former wife, Tyrah, were charged with first-degree murder and grand theft in connection with the Jan. 23, 2007, shooting outside Leslie Carlton Breaw’s home in Coolin.

Les Breaw, 47, died of a .22-caliber gunshot wound to his face. His remains went undiscovered for several months.

Tyrah Harding, 28, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and grand theft. Brown pleaded to reduced charges shortly before he was to be tried for first-degree murder and grand theft by possession.

Brown has maintained that Breaw was shot accidentally during a verbal altercation that turned physical. He denies intending to kill Breaw and admits to no wrongdoing, but concedes he could be convicted of the offenses if he went to trial.

Under a partially-binding plea agreement, the state will recommend concurrent 15- and five-year prison sentences for manslaughter and felony theft. The portions of the pact binding upon the court include a 15-year cap on the custodial sentence and the right to appeal pretrial motions that were denied.

A volunteer chaplain at the Bonner County Jail is asking the court to consider a degree of mercy in Brown’s case. Jeremiah Smedra said he would not only accept Brown back into the community, but welcome into his home.

Smedra added in the letter that Brown has spent nearly a year in solitary confinement.

“The morality of solitary confinement is questionable and the consequences well documented. If punishment for crime is the intent (of sentencing), then his time in solitary should be considered before adding more time to his sentence,” Smedra wrote.