10-year term imposed over motel attack

SANDPOINT — A California man was ordered Tuesday to serve up to 10 years in prison for an attack at a motel near Priest River earlier this year.

Mokhtar Joseph Emilien will have to serve three years in prison before he can be considered for parole, according to the terms of the sentence imposed by 1st District Judge Barbara Buchanan.

Emilien, a 24-year-old from Palmdale, was charged with burglary and kidnapping with intent to commit murder or battery, in addition to aggravated battery and aggravated assault in connection with the March 3 blitz at the River Country Motel west of town.

Emilien allegedly burst into another couple’s room and began trashing it while threatening to kill them and everybody else in the motel, according to a probable cause affidavit. He was further accused of brandishing several knives during the episode and stabbing one into a door. A 48-year-old woman stood and announced she was leaving and was thrown to the ground, which fractured her leg, court records indicate.

The woman’s husband, 53, fled out a back window with a cellphone and alerted authorities. Emilien, meanwhile, wrapped a scarf around a knife in his hand and threw a second knife at the woman from a distance of about 10 feet, but she was not hit, the affidavit said.

During the alleged attack and after his arrest, Emilien spoke of men in cloaks that were in the room, causing Bonner County sheriff’s deputies to conclude he was hallucinating, court documents said.

Emilien’s girlfriend told investigators he was bipolar, schizophrenic, had stopped taking his prescribed medications and was using methamphetamine instead, according to the affidavit.

Emilien entered into a pretrial settlement agreement in which he entered Alford pleas to an amended charge of attempted burglary and aggravated battery, which are punishable by up to five years and 15 years, respectively. Under the plea, Emilien denied the allegations but conceded he could be convicted at trial, which was set to start next month.

In exchange for the pleas, the kidnapping and assault charges were dismissed, as was a persistent violator sentencing enhancement that could have added five years to life the underlying sentence.

Despite the nature of his plea, Emilien said he took full responsibility for his actions and said he was not in his right mind when the incident occurred, court records show.

Chief Deputy Prosecutor Shane Greenbank said it was unclear what would have happened had the woman’s husband not been able to escape and summon help. He added that the couple was traumatized by the incident and left the state shortly thereafter.

Greenbank recommended a five- to 10-year term, while Public Defender Susie Jensen lobbied for placement in the state’s retained jurisdiction prison program, which would grant her client access to mental health treatment.

When jurisdiction is retained, a defendant can qualify for release onto probation after serving up to a year in prison.

That was a bridge too far Buchanan, court records indicate. She said a traditional custodial prison term was “only appropriate” sentence.