Defense in murder case going on the offensive

SANDPOINT - Defense attorneys for a couple accused of murdering a Priest Lake man are launching an effort to have the state's cases dismissed or severely hobbled.

Counsel for Keith Allen Brown and Tyrah Brea Brown contend in various motions that there is insufficient evidence to sustain the charges and what evidence does exist was either improperly obtained or tainted, according to court documents.

Chief Public Defender Isabella Robertson, Keith Brown's lead attorney, argues in court documents that her client should not have been bound over to 1st District Court to stand trial because the prosecution did not present substantial evidence linking him to the crimes he's charged with. In another motion to dismiss, Robertson asserts some of the evidence the prosecution had access to is no longer available to the defense and other evidence at Keith Brown's former residence has been destroyed.

Robertson said in the motion that the unexamined evidence would show jurors that the state's allegations of first-degree murder and grand theft are not true.

Robertson also seeks to suppress evidence gathered from searches conducted in February and March of last year because the warrants were based on a prosecutor's statements instead of testimony from a sworn witness.

“Even though the prosecution had a witness on the stand to provide information from the witness's perspective, all of the information presented to the Magistrate was in the form of a narration from the prosecutor or through leading questions from the prosecutor,” Robertson said in the motion.

Keith Brown, 47, and Tyrah Brown, 26, are charged with first-degree murder in the January 2007 shooting death of 48-year-old Leslie Carlton Breaw, whose body was not discovered until the following March. They are also charged with grand theft for possessing a stolen $56,000 escrow check belonging to Breaw.

Keith Brown allegedly confessed to Breaw's slaying, but Robertson is moving for the confession to be suppressed because it was false and made under the duress of repeated questioning, court documents said.

Tyrah Brown also allegedly confessed to the killing, but her attorney is moving to have those statements suppressed. Defense attorney Linda Payne said in court papers that Tyrah Brown's confession also was false.

“The evidence must be suppressed because multiple interrogations by different officers were psychologically coercive and unlawful,” Payne wrote in her motion to supress.

Payne further contends the grand-theft-by-possession charge should be dismissed against Tyrah Brown due to a lack of evidence.

Hearings on the motions are pending. The Browns are being tried separately. Keith Brown's trial is set for July and Tyrah Brown's trial is planned for August.