Local man pleads guilty in arson case

SANDPOINT — A Sandpoint man charged with second-degree arson and aggravated assault in Kootenai County has pleaded guilty, according to the Idaho Supreme Court Data Repository.

Clark Edward Richman is scheduled to be sentenced in 1st District Court in Coeur d’Alene on Nov. 14. Richman entered the pleas on Sept. 27.

In exchange for the pleas, a third charge of battery on a law officer was dismissed.

Richman, 44, was arrested on the campus of Kootenai Health following a tense standoff with Coeur d’Alene Police officers, who were responding to a report of construction trailers being set ablaze.

Richman was accused of brandishing a knife during the confrontation and kicking an officer after he was subdued.

Richman admitted that he set fire to the trailers in an interview with a Spokane television station. A mental health evaluation was sought in the case, court records show.