Brown granted re-hearing in Coolin killing

SANDPOINT — A Bonner County man convicted of shooting Leslie Carlton Breaw to death at Priest Lake may be allowed to withdraw his guilty plea.

The Idaho Court of Appeals is remanding Keith Allan Brown’s case back to 1st District Court because the state failed to meet its burden of proving that his confession was made voluntarily.

Brown shot Breaw to death with a .22-caliber rifle in Coolin in 2007. Brown and his then-wife, Tyrah, fled to Florida. Breaw’s remains were discovered beneath a snow-covered brush pile several months after the killing.

The Browns became suspects in the killing after depositing a $50,000 escrow check belonging to Breaw, 47, into one of their accounts and allegedly using the dead man’s debit card.

The couple was arrested in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., the day after Breaw’s body was discovered. They were charged with first-degree murder and grand theft.

Tyrah Brown, now 31, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and grand theft and was given a suspended prison term and five months in jail. Keith Brown entered into civil mediation to resolve his case, resulting in conditional Alford pleas to voluntary manslaughter and accessory to grand theft.

Under the pleas, Keith Brown admitted no wrongdoing but conceded he could be convicted at trial. He claimed Breaw was shot accidentally during an argument and struggle over the rifle.

Keith Brown, now 52, is serving a 10- to 15-year sentence at the Idaho State Correctional Institution in Kuna, according to the Idaho Department of Correction.

Sara Thomas and Spencer Hahn, state public defenders, appealed Keith Brown’s convictions, arguing that probable cause for his arrest evaporated prior to being taken into custody. The defense further argued that his mail was impermissibly searched while in custody and a post-conviction motion for leniency was mishandled by 1st District Judge Fred Gibler.

Appellate Judge Karen Lansing rejected those arguments, but found that the defense correctly argued that a motion to suppress his confession in Florida should have been granted because the prosecution presented no evidence whatsoever to meet its burden of proving that the confession was voluntary.

But the appeals court stopped short of suppressing the confession due to the absence of any allegations or evidence that investigators use coercive tactics to gain the confession.

“An evidentiary vacuum does not enable a court to make the necessary findings,” Lansing wrote.

Lansing emphasized that the case is being remanded for further proceedings and that Brown has not yet prevailed on this issue.

Chief Judge Sergio Gutierrez and John Melanson concurred with Lansing, according to an 18-page opinion published on Sept. 6.

If the district court denies the suppression motion on remand, Brown’s convictions will not be disturbed. If the court grants the motion, however, Brown must be allowed the opportunity to withdraw his guilty pleas and have his judgment of conviction set aside, Lansing said in the opinion.