Any experience with Bonner Co. Prosecutor/Justice System? (Sandpoint: felony, to move)

[Toyman at Jewel Lake]

Some of you might have heard about a case in Sandpoint that occurred last summer. A 17 year old girl was attacked by two people-another 17 year old girl and a young woman. While the 2, 17 year olds were struggling, the older one picked up a baseball bat, circled around the pair, and struck the victim repeatedly in the face. She broke her eye socket, smashed her cheekbone, collapsed her sinus cavity and (IIRC) drove two teeth into her sinuses (she lost the teeth). She had to have emergency reconstructive surgery to rebuild her face. There was a long recovery, with at least one additional surgery. The mother is a friend of mine, I've seen the x-rays showing all the hardware used to put the bone fragments back in position.

While recovering both in the hospital and later at home, the victim was threatened and bullied by the attackers on social media. The older attacker repeatedly called and harassed the mother. The older attacker was not immediately arrested and bragged on social media of the attack and getting away with it. The victim's family was threatened in the courthouse parking lot during one of the hearings.

Our county prosecutor's response? (and entire justice system, really). First, no arrest took place for several days (perhaps over a week). And that didn't happen until public outrage finally made an impact. The younger assailant was a minor-she spend a period in juvi detention while awaiting a hearing and (IIRC) was only charged with a misdemeanor, battery. Being a minor the outcome was not reported.

The older one was arrested and spent 1 night in jail, before being released on bail the next morning. She was originally charged with a misdemeanor as well (assault or battery, I don't recall). The charge was upped to felony aggravated battery (which is Idaho's version of assault with a deadly weapon as I understand). A few months later, it comes out in the local paper that the prosecutor is in discussions with the assailant to allow a plea bargain. The victim was NOT notified prior to that showing up in the paper.

Last Friday the following article came out: https://www.bonnercountydailybee.com...oHxPWjW46G_JF8 (my free articles at an end, will try to summarize).

The charges were reduced to a misdemeanor. She gets 2 years probation. If she doesn't violate probation the charges are to be dropped. No record. NO prison time. Not even a slap on the wrist. Adding insult to injury the victim and her family were never notified of the sentencing hearing. They were to be able to read an impact statement-of course that never happened. Oh, and while the sentencing hearing was pending-the criminal and her family were allowed to move not out of the jurisdiction, but out of state.

I, and many others in the community are disgusted and outraged that our criminal justice system is this pathetic. To be honest, I don't know if the issue is that our prosecutor is too lazy to do his job, or if we have very soft, weak-minded judges in the county. I expect this in some parts of the country, but not here. I'm starting to look into what's involved in organizing a recall election, or to determine just what the process is to remove an elected official from office. I have filed a complaint with the state AG, but don't expect to get a response. The family did so last year and never even got a response.

I'm curious-what are other's experiences with the justice system in Bonner County?

[Cnynrat]

I understand the victim's family approved this arrangement.

I suggest you contact the prosecutor's office to get more details than were published in the local newspaper before getting too far down the road.

Dave

[banjomike]

What Dave said. Pressure is about the only thing that could work now.

It may not work. Judges do not reverse their sentences very often, and if the offending girl was already sentenced to probation, I'm pretty sure that's that.

It probably didn't happen from laziness; the yearly budget is always a big consideration, so the cheapest way a case is settled is usually the most common, but often it's not the best justice.

About the only other recourse is to fire the Prosecutor this year's election and hire a new guy, and if the judge has to run to keep his office, put him on notice too.

Don't expect anything to happen fast. It took 20 years to free Chris Tapp, a guy who was coerced into a false confession for a murder he didn't commit.

[Toyman at Jewel Lake]

Originally Posted by Cnynrat

I understand the victim's family approved this arrangement.

I suggest you contact the prosecutor's office to get more details than were published in the local newspaper before getting too far down the road.

Dave

I know the mother quite well. That was not exactly the case. Though I do want a good face to face conversation.

[Toyman at Jewel Lake]

Originally Posted by banjomike

What Dave said. Pressure is about the only thing that could work now.

It may not work. Judges do not reverse their sentences very often, and if the offending girl was already sentenced to probation, I'm pretty sure that's that.

It probably didn't happen from laziness; the yearly budget is always a big consideration, so the cheapest way a case is settled is usually the most common, but often it's not the best justice.

About the only other recourse is to fire the Prosecutor this year's election and hire a new guy, and if the judge has to run to keep his office, put him on notice too.

Don't expect anything to happen fast. It took 20 years to free Chris Tapp, a guy who was coerced into a false confession for a murder he didn't commit.

Yeah-once sentencing is done, I don't see anything being done to change that. She's getting off without even a slap on the wrist-and without even a record if she doesn't screw up bad for 2 years. I'm wondering if this county has a reputation of being soft on crime-due to the prosecutor, the judge or other factors. Obviously, it isn't just Bonner County that has this issue.