Judge upholds sentence in Lott murder

PRIEST RIVER — The sentence stands in the case of a former Bonner County man accused of murdering his wife and embarking on a 12-year cover-up of her death.

Stephen Mathew Lott entered Alford pleas to an amended charge of involuntary manslaughter and failing to notify authorities of a death. Under the terms of the plea, Lott admitted no wrongdoing but conceded he could be convicted if his case went before a jury.

Christine Lott disappeared in 2004 and her remains were discovered in a remote and forested area east of Coeur d’Alene in 2016. Stephen Lott was indicted by a Bonner County grand jury of first-degree murder and failing to notify the coroner or law enforcement of his wife’s death.

Lott was ordered to serve 15 years on the manslaughter charge and 10 years on the failure-to-notify charge, terms which 1st District Judge Barbara Buchanan ordered to be served consecutively due to Lott’s inability to admit complicity in his wife’s death and the extended ruse he forced on family members.

Counsel for Lott moved for a reduction in sentence due to a 2018 Idaho Supreme Court ruling which held that the failure-to-notify charge can infringe on a defendant’s 5h Amendment right against self-incrimination under certain circumstances.

Public Defender Janet Whitney based the motion on an Idaho criminal court rule which allows sentences to be corrected if they’re illegal and found to be unduly harsh.

In a written ruling, Buchanan held that the sentence on the notification charge was not illegal because it did not exceed the 10-year statutory limit. Moreover, Lott didn’t argue in post-conviction relief proceedings that the sentence he received was unduly harsh, according to court documents.

Buchanan ultimately ruled that the relief Lott sought was not available to him under rule that was cited.

There were also distinctions between the Idaho Supreme Court case and the Lott case, Buchanan held.

In the high court case, the notification charge was dismissed in the run-up to a trial. In Lott’s case, he had already entered a plea, been convicted and sentenced. Buchanan also held that the supreme court ruling was not a broad ruling on the constitutionality of the law and driven by the specific facts of a case.

“However, Lott entered a guilty plea and there has been no evidentiary hearing at which any facts pertinent to such an inquiry have been established,” Buchanan said in a seven-page ruling.

Buchanan noted that a direct appeal or civil post-conviction proceeding would be the more apt vehicles for seeking relief.

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