Sentencing rescheduled in lewd case

SANDPOINT — Sentencing has been rescheduled for a Montana man who pleaded guilty to molesting a 7-year-old girl in Oldtown last year.

The state and defense moved jointly for an order requiring Daniel Curtis LaBelle to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, court records show. His sentencing hearing has been reset for May 5 in 1st District Court.

LaBelle’s fitness to proceed was drawn into question because he apparently suffers from memory and concentration problems, in addition to a schizoaffective disorder. LaBelle has been demanding to be placed on probation, an unreasonable outcome in the case given its seriousness.

“(H)e appears to be out of touch with the reality of if his situation,” Chief Public Defender Isabella Robertson and Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall said in the motion.

LaBelle, a 28-year-old who most recently resided in Noxon, engaged in lewd conduct with the girl in October and November of last year, according charging documents. LaBelle entered a guilty plea to an amended complaint earlier this year and remains held at the Bonner County Jail.

The amended complaint alleges LaBelle touched the girl’s genitalia, but drops allegations that he had oral-to-genital or genital-to-genital contact with the youngster.

A lewd conduct conviction in Idaho can result in a lifelong prison sentence. Sentence recommendations in LaBelle’s case have not been disclosed, however.