Brown claims items seized improperly

SANDPOINT — A man convicted of shooting a Priest Lake man to death in 2007 is seeking $50,000 in damages from Bonner County for property that was lost while he and his former wife were being investigated for the killing.

Keith Allen Brown, who pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of voluntary manslaughter and grand theft by possession of stolen property, contends a Subaru Outback, a Pierson Ariel sailboat, $9,429 in cash and other belongings were improperly seized when the couple was apprehended in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., several months after Leslie Carlton Breaw was shot to death.

Brown alleges in a tort claim that Bonner County Sheriff’s Det. John Valdez told authorities in Florida to seize the property. There were no civil forfeiture proceedings and some of the property was sold, Brown said in the Dec. 20, 2010, tort claim.

Brown further asserts that the property in question was never linked to criminal wrongdoing in Idaho. The grand theft charge relates to a $56,000 escrow check that belonged to Breaw, although authorities in Idaho contend it was deposited and used to purchase the car and sloop after the killing.

The county can either honor or reject the claim. If the county chooses the latter option, Brown would be free to pursue his allegations in 1st District Court.

Brown and Tyrah Harding were initially charged with first-degree murder, but both entered into plea agreements which reduced the charges. Tyrah Harding, 28, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and grand theft and was released after serving more than three years in jail awaiting trial.

Brown pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced to up to 15 years in prison. The first 10 years of the sentence are fixed.

Brown, 50, is being held at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution in Kuna, according to the Idaho Department of Correction. A petition for post-conviction sentence relief is pending in 1st District Court.