Foster pleads guilty in shooting

SANDPOINT — Civil mediation has produced guilty pleas in the case of a Blanchard man accused of attempting to kill two Bonner County sheriff’s deputies who tried to arrest him.

Adam Deacon Foster pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted murder on Monday, 1st District Court records show. The charges included a sentencing enhancement that adds 20 years to the sentence for inflicting great bodily injury upon deputies Michael Gagnon and Justin Penn.

Foster is scheduled to be sentenced on March 6, 2018. He remains jailed with bail set at $2 million.

Deputies Gagnon, Penn and William Craffey sought to arrest Foster, 31, outside his Mountain View Road home on Jan. 16 on an outstanding warrant after he allegedly made death threats against a neighbor and law enforcement, according to court documents. Foster ran around the side of his home, took up a shooting position and opened fire on the pursuing deputies when they came into view.

Despite being wounded, deputies Gagnon and Penn returned fire and wounded Foster, which brought an end to the firefight. Craffey also fired on Foster, but escaped injury.

Gagnon, 53, and Penn, 30, survived the shooting and were recently cleared of wrongdoing by the Kootenai County Prosecutor’s Office, which review the use of force as part of a North Idaho Critical Incident Task Force investigation.

Prosecutor Barry McHugh concluded on Dec. 12 that Gagnon and Penn’s use of deadly force was appropriate given the circumstances of the confrontation.

The charges against Foster stayed almost entirely intact during mediation, court records show.

The only difference between the original criminal complaint and the amended complaint involved the sentencing enhancement. Foster originally faced two enhancements for injuring Gagnon and Penn, but the amended charging information shows both deputies are accounted for in a single sentencing enhancement.

Foster faces up to 15 years in prison on each count, plus the 20-year sentencing enhancement, according to Idaho Code. Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall has agreed to limit the state’s sentencing recommendation to 50 years, court records indicate.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.