Garlin sentencing postponed

SANDPOINT — Sentencing was postponed Monday for a young Clark Fork man who initially withheld knowledge that he witnessed a Hope man’s first-degree murder.

First District Judge Barbara Buchanan declined to sentence Christopher Robin Garlin due to the lack of a presentence investigation, which pores over his background and the circumstances of the crime he’s charged with.

Although Garlin submitted to a presentence investigation after pleading guilty in an unrelated firearms theft case in U.S. District Court, Buchanan said the document was too brief and included nothing about the killing of Michael Wyatt Smith, who disappeared in the fall of 2011.

“We have a young man who’s dead and he’s not even mentioned in it,” said Buchanan, referring to the federal presentence report.

Garlin’s sentencing for accessory to murder is set for April 18. He is currently free on his own recognizance.

Austin Blake Thrasher pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder of Smith, 19. Garlin, also 19, admitted witnessing the shooting, while Thrasher’s wife, Jennifer, admitted to helping dispose of Smith’s body in a makeshift grave northeast of Sandpoint.

Thrasher, 20, allegedly shot Smith over a romantic rivalry involving a 16-year-old Bonner County girl.

Smith’s killing did not come to light until early 2012, when the trio was arrested in connection with the burglary of a Ponderay pawn shop. Garlin, according to court records, disclosed to investigators that he witnessed Austin Thrasher gun Smith down without warning outside Thrasher’s Cocolalla home.

Austin Thrasher pleaded guilty last month to first-degree murder and is scheduled to be sentenced on April 16. He faces a prison sentence of 25 years to life.

Jennifer Thrasher, 23, pleaded guilty in her federal and state cases and is serving concurrent two-year terms.

Garlin’s court-appointed defense counsel, Sandpoint attorney Paul Vogel, is also seeking global resolution to his client’s cases. Garlin was sentenced in federal court last month to 11 months in prison, but was apparently given credit for time served while awaiting trial.

Vogel is asking Buchanan impose a concurrent sentence in Garlin’s state case, although the court has not announced whether it will bind itself to the proposed plea agreement.

Buchanan, who recently succeeded Judge Steve Verby on the bench, said she reviewed the case file, but was uneasy about sentencing Garlin without more details.

“I need to know the extent of Mr. Garlin’s involvement in that (killing) and I just don’t have any sense of it,” said Buchanan.

Buchanan initially proposed ordering a mental health evaluation, but Vogel objected because Garlin shows no signs of illness, and understands charge against him and proceedings he’s involved in.

“I just simply see no indication whatsoever of a mental illness,” said Vogel.

Buchanan ultimately did not order a mental health evaluation because he’s scheduled to undergo one as a condition of his federal probation.

Garlin’s upbringing is portrayed as troubled and marred by relentless abuse at the hands of two older brothers. Austin Thrasher, meanwhile, is described in court documents as a violent predator and sociopath who lorded over Garlin.

One of Jennifer Thrasher’s supporters, however, has scoffed at the notion that Garlin was merely an innocent bystander.

Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall conceded on Monday there were some aggravating factors concerning Garlin’s involvement, but there were also a “high number” of mitigating factors. Chief among the latter was Garlin’s decision to come forward with the information he possessed.

“But for Mr. Garlin coming forward, it may have been some time before the death was ever known and Mr. Thrasher’s involvement,” said Marshall.