Bail reduction sought in murder

SANDPOINT — Defense counsel for a Coeur d’Alene woman implicated in a Bonner County murder is seeking reduced bail or an own-recognizance release while awaiting trial.

Judith Marie Carpenter’s request will be taken up during a preliminary hearing in magistrate court on Wednesday.

Carpenter’s counsel, Coeur d’Alene attorney Joseph Sullivan, argues his client’s $1 million bail is excessive. Sullivan further argues Carpenter poises neither a flight risk nor a danger to the general public, according to court documents.

The Idaho Bail Act allows judges to set bail and conditions of release so long as the objectives of ensured court attendance, protection of witnesses and the public are met. State criminal court rules outline other factors which can be considered, including the nature and extent of family relationships, prior criminal record and ties to the community.

Carpenter, 57, is accused of shooting Shirley Ann Ramey to death at Ramey’s Trestle Creek home on April 5, 2017.

Carpenter has no prior criminal record of note in Idaho outside of motor vehicle offenses, according to Idaho’s iCourt database. She was, however, convicted of a felony assault in Montana for allegedly threatening another motorist with a firearm during a road rage incident in Lincoln County on the same day Ramey, 78, was killed.

Carpenter’s arrest for that offense led to the seizure of a 9-millimeter Glock pistol and a lever-action rifle that was later determined to be stolen from the Ramey residence. The alleged murder weapon and the rifle, despite having blood on them, were held as evidence in the Montana incident without further analysis.

The semiautomatic pistol was later matched to the Ramey murder through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives’ National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, which allows for the high-definition capture and comparison of ballistic evidence. Idaho State Police also linked the Glock 19 to Ramey’s killing through ballistics and tool-mark analyses, according to court records.

Carpenter denied involvement in Ramey’s killing when she made an initial court appearance following her arrest in August. Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall recommended bail be set at $1 million in light of Carpenter being charged with first-degree murder. Carpenter objected, saying she could not make bail even if bail was set at $500,000.

A motive for the killing remains somewhat elusive, although court documents posit that Ramey may have been killed during the commission of robbery.

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