Ex-county clerk seeks dismissal in perjury case

SANDPOINT — Counsel for former Bonner County Clerk Ann Dutson-Sater is moving to dismiss a subornation of perjury charge.

The charge stems from the failed recall election of Lake Pend Oreille School District Chairman Steve Youngdahl, who had proposed arming certain staff with concealed weapons to protect students in the event of a school shooting.

Those opposed to the proposal targeted Youngdahl for recall in 2013, but the effort ultimately failed.

Youngdahl raised questions about recall backers’ conduct during the signature drive, prompting county officials to refer the matter to the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office, which conducted an investigation.

The investigation determined that Dutson-Sater and a deputy clerk improperly certified signature petitions and improperly allowed recall organizers to submit additional signatures when they fell short of the required number to trigger an election.

Allowing recall organizers to gather more signatures nullified the recall effort and Dutson-Sater and the deputy clerk were charged with official malfeasance. Dutson-Sater was further charged subornation of perjury for allowing a recall organizer to attest under oath that he witnessed all the signatures being gathered when he had only seen a majority.

The malfeasance charges were dismissed without prejudice during a preliminary hearing last fall. Judge Justin Julian ruled malfeasance allegations amounted to human error.

However, Julian bound Dutson-Sater over to stand trial on the subornation charge because the witnessing requirements were written in plain, unambiguous language.

Dutson-Sater, 56, is scheduled to be tried for the felony offense in 1st District Court in March.

But Dutson-Sater’s defense counsel, Sandpoint attorney Josh Hickey, moved on Monday to dismiss the charge. Hickey argues the recall petition effectively ceased to exist after it was nullified and there has been no showing that there was a corrupt agreement between Dutson-Sater and recall organizer Tom Bokowy to subvert the law.

“The absence of this allegation renders the (charging) information jurisidictionally deficient and violative of the defendant’s rights of due process,” Hickey said in a memorandum supporting the motion to dismiss.

A hearing on the motion is set for Jan. 27 in Coeur d’Alene, court records show.