Defiance results in contempt arrest

SANDPOINT — A Sandpoint woman embroiled in a low-level battery case involving a city official was arrested again Friday for defying a court order.

Rita Nancy Hutchens was found in contempt of court for willfully disregarding an order requiring her to undergo a mental health evaluation while awaiting trial on a misdemeanor battery charge.

Judge Debra Heise ordered Hutchens held without bond until she undergoes the evaluation. Once the evaluation is done, Heise also ordered Hutchens be released on her own recognizance.

Hutchens, 57, is accused of hitting a deputy city clerk with a thrown ink pen last year. Hutchens was examining public records at City Hall while researching legal claims against the city for her wrongful arrest in a harassment investigation in 2011.

Hutchens steadfastly denies the battery charge. Her trial in Bonner County Magistrate Court is set for July 25.

It’s the third time Hutchens has been arrested in a case which could conceivably result in no jail time even if she were to be convicted.

Hutchens, who is acting as her own counsel, has already logged arrests for failing to appear in court and for contempt when she disregarded repeated warnings not to talk over the court during an earlier hearing on her refusal to undergo the evaluation.

Bonner County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Shane Greenbank moved for the evaluation due to Hutchens’ behavior in and outside of court. Hutchens allegedly put her hands on Greenbank when he attempted to serve her with court papers and has filed voluminous court documents which Greenbank contends make no sense.

Greenbank argued there was a question about Hutchens’ capacity to assist in her own defense and Heise granted the state’s motion in May.

After her contempt arrest, Hutchens agreed under protest to submit to the evaluation, but ultimately defied the order.

The doctor Hutchens picked to conduct the evaluation advised the court that Hutchens monopolized the hour-plus interview and could only draw the conclusion that she was “unwilling to participate.”

Hutchens was summoned to court on Friday to take up her continued non-compliance with the evaluation order.

Although the scope of the hearing was meant to be narrow, Hutchens used it broadly to argue that the battery case against her is without basis and an abuse of power by public officials.

“There are no facts of battery. None whatsoever,” Hutchens said.

Hutchens added that the criminal case against her is terminally flawed in numerous technical aspects and accused the Bonner County Daily Bee of libelous reporting. She also argued her legal claims against the city and asserted that law enforcement targets low-income residents due to a relative lack of ethnic minorities in the community.

After about 30 minutes, Heise steered the hearing back to the matter of contempt, while strongly urging Hutchens to accept the services of Margaret Williams, a court-appointed defense attorney who has successfully defended her in the past.

“You are acting without an attorney to your own detriment,” said Heise, adding that Hutchens’ interpretations of state law and court rules were “misguided.”

Hutchens was arrested for obstruction in 2011 for refusing to speak with a Sandpoint Police officer who was investigating allegations that she was stalking a tenant who failed to pay rent. Williams successfully argued Hutchens’ invocation of her Fifth Amendment right did not amount to obstruction and a judge ultimately dismissed that case.

On the issue of contempt, Heise said there was no question.

“I find that you failed, in any measure of good faith, to comply with that order,” said Heise.