Another delay in crash case

SANDPOINT — Unavailability of an essential witness is forcing yet another postponement in the case of a Sandpoint woman accused of fleeing the scene of a deadly highway crash.

Brianna Lucille Knapp was scheduled to be tried this month in 1st District Court, although an Idaho State Police trooper was unable to testify due to a family emergency, court records show.

Knapp’s three-day jury trial on a felony charge of leaving the scene of the fatality crash is now scheduled to start on Dec. 9. She is free on her own recognizance while the case is pending.

Knapp, 29, is accused of leaving the scene of a collision that mortally wounded an off-duty Spokane Police officer on July 24, 2012.

Idaho State Police said Kurt P. Henson was riding westbound in a construction zone on Highway 200 near Clark Fork when he lost control of his Harley-Davidson amid an abrupt lane edge and crashed. Knapp, state police said, was also westbound and collided with the fallen Henson and his motorcycle.

A passenger on the Harley, 43-year-old Post Falls resident Kimberly Lennox, survived the crash and Knapp is accused of leaving the scene in a pickup that was later discovered abandoned along the highway.

Although at least one witness told state police he saw Knapp collide with Henson, she is not accused of causing or contributing to the 47-year-old Post Falls man’s death.

Knapp pleaded not guilty and her supporters contend she was unaware that she had struck anything in the highway.

There have been a number of pretrial motions filed by the defense in the case, including ones to change the trial venue, limit the scope of testimony jurors will hear and to line up expert testimony on the defendant’s behalf. The change-of-venue motion was not granted.