Jury find man guilty in home invasion
SANDPOINT — A Bonner County jury convicted Randy Carl Eiland Thursday of forcing his way into a Sandpoint home and attacking the homeowner during a home-invasion robbery attempt last year.
The jury of six men and six deliberated for about two hours and 15 minutes before finding Eiland guilty of battery with intent to commit a serious felony and burglary. Eiland had no visible reaction to the verdicts when they were read aloud in 1st District Court.
Eiland, 51, faces up to 20 years on the felony battery charge and up to 10 on the burglary charge. A persistent violator enhancement due to several prior felony convictions, including one for a 1985 murder in Washington state, will add another five years and the prospect of lifelong incarceration. Eiland is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 9.
Eiland was being held at the Bonner County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail while awaiting trial. Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall moved for Eiland to be held without bail in light of the convictions and the likelihood of a lengthy prison term. Buchanan granted the motion.
Eiland, who acted as his own legal counsel, went to trial against his will after a motion for another continuance was denied. Buchanan noted that Eiland had already been granted several continuances and access to a laptop computer. Eiland also received the assistance of the Bonner County Public Defender's Office and was allowed to use Buchanan's chambers to talk to witnesses privately.
"At some point people have to go to trial and here we are," Buchanan in response to Eiland's ongoing objection about his trial date.
Eiland was accused of smashing in a glass door at a waterfront residence in southwest Sandpoint on the morning Oct. 21, 2014. He allegedly sprayed bear repellent into the face of the homeowner and into a bedroom containing the man's wife and daughter during a struggle to control the door. Eiland allegedly dropped the canister of spray in the residence and was found at the Idaho Department of Labor office on U.S. Highway 2.
During his closing remarks to the jury, which began hearing the case Monday, Eiland insisted that he was the victim of a case of mistaken identity.
"A tragic thing happened to the (alleged victims). There's no doubt about that," Eiland told the jury.
But Eiland said he was not involved in the tragedy and the state was unable to sustain its burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that he was.
Eiland said witness descriptions by the alleged victims were inconsistent and other witnesses who saw him in the time leading up to the crime were unable to identify him. Eiland further contended that a pay stub, coupled with receipts and cash on hand, contradicted the state's contention that he was seen on video surveillance cameras at the Ponderay Walmart purchasing the bear spray, 24-inch zip ties and a tin of chewing tobacco with cash a couple of hours before the home invasion.
But Chief Deputy Prosecutor Shane Greenbank told jurors that unaccounted-for funds simply could have been used to make the Walmart purchases and that the alleged victims had identified him as their assailant. Glass evidence on Eiland's clothes and officers' contention that he smelled of pepper spray and exhibited symptoms of being exposed to the deterrent further pointed to his guilt.
"It doesn't add up," Greenbank said of Eiland's mistaken identity claims. "There is no doppelganger."
Eiland admitted into evidence two self portraits he took with his cellphone around the time of the alleged attack, photos which he said demonstrated that he was not at the scene of the break-in or suffering from the effects of pepper spray exposure. Eiland, however, declined to take the stand to elaborate on the photos to avoid being cross-examined by the prosecution.
Eiland qualified for Idaho's version of the three-strikes law due to convictions due to a burglary and theft convictions in Seattle and Kodiak, Alaska, in the 1980s. He was also convicted of first-degree murder for killing a theater manager during a botched robbery attempt in Lynnwood, Wash., court records show.