Competency queried in Cocolalla killing

SANDPOINT — A Cocolalla man accused of executing a romantic rival is being ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

Chief Public Defender Isabella Robertson is raising concerns that Austin Blake Thrasher may be delusional and unable to understand the criminal proceedings against him or assist in his own defense, according to documents filed in 1st District Court.

Judge Steve Verby granted the defense motion on Thursday.

Thrasher, 19, is charged with first-degree murder for shooting Michael Wyatt Smith to death last fall. The slaying remained a well-kept secret until an alleged accomplice disclosed it to Bonner County sheriff’s detectives in January.

Thrasher was ordered to stand trial for the killing following a preliminary hearing earlier this month. He remains jailed in lieu of $500,000 bail.

Robertson’s motion was filed in the wake of the hearing. She said Thrasher appears to be inordinately confused when relaying information about the case to her, the defense motion said.

“Specifically, he has conveyed to counsel that there were two witnesses that could provide information about the events surrounding the murder, and when the witnesses testified they said exactly the opposite of what the Defendant had stated to counsel,” the motion states.

The motion does not identify the witnesses or indicate what the contrary testimony involves.

Six witnesses testified during the preliminary hearing, but only one — Thrasher’s wife — had any direct involvement with the crime.

Jennifer Thrasher, 22, testified that she did not witness the shooting, but was present before and after Smith was killed.

She told the court that she drove her husband, Smith and 18-year-old Christopher Robin Garlin to their Cocolalla home last September to drink beer and play video games and was unaware of plans to kill Smith, also 19.

However, Jennifer Thrasher admitted that she agreed to clandestinely search Smith’s backpack for weapons before the three young men went on a walk in woods.

She further testified that she was summoned to a ravine by phone and saw Smith’s lifeless body on the back of an all-terrain vehicle.

“They just said they had to do this,” Jennifer Thrasher recalled being told.

Austin Thrasher allegedly shot Smith in the head and torso with a pistol, apparently because Smith had begun dating a 16-year-old girl whom Thrasher was also seeing.

Jennifer Thrasher also testified that Garlin joked about the killing, although court documents indicate he informed investigators of the shooting.

Garlin and Jennifer Thrasher are charged with accessory to murder. They waived their preliminary hearings and remain in custody with bail set at $50,000 each. Their arraignment in district court is set for Monday.