Competency question resurfaces

SANDPOINT — A Bonner County murder suspect’s capacity to assist in his own defense is being questioned again.

Counsel for Austin Blake Thrasher is calling for a mental health evaluations because he is displaying symptoms of delusions, according to court documents.

Chief Public Defender Isabella Robertson’s motion is pending in 1st District Court.

Thrasher, 19, is awaiting trial for first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of Michael Wyatt Smith last September.

It’s the second time since the case’s inception that Thrasher’s fitness to proceed has been drawn into question.

Robertson moved for and was granted an order for evaluation in April, following Thrasher’s preliminary hearing in magistrate court. Robertson said in court documents that her client relayed information to her in an inordinately confused manner.

Thrasher apparently advised his counsel that two witnesses would provide information about the events surrounding the murder, but when they took the stand their testimony was contrary to what Thrasher had stated.

The identities of the witnesses or the nature of their contrary testimony were not disclosed in that motion.

It’s not clear from the public record if the evaluation has been done, although the results of such evaluations are filed under seal.

Robertson filed another evaluation motion on July 19. It stated that the symptoms of delusion Thrasher was previously displaying “have advanced to a point that defense counsel believes the Defendant is unable to assist in his own defense.”

Thrasher is scheduled to stand trial in July, but if he is deemed not fit to proceed his case will be on hold until competency is restored.

Smith’s slaying went undetected for months until an alleged witness to the shooting, Christopher Robin Garlin, disclosed it to sheriff’s investigators.

Smith, a 19-year-old who was living in Hope, was shot to death with a handgun in the woods outside Thrasher’s Cocolalla home. He was buried in a makeshift grave in the Rapid Lightning drainage.

Garlin and Thrasher’s wife, Jennifer, were charged with being accessories to the killing because they concealed knowledge of Smith’s murder until January.

Garlin, also 19, of Clark Fork, and Jennifer Thrasher, 23, are awaiting trial, although both suspects are involved in plea negotiations, according to court documents.

Smith’s killing was disclosed while the trio of suspects were being held for allegedly burglarizing a Ponderay pawn shop and stealing more than 30 guns in December.

Jennifer Thrasher pleaded guilty to a federal firearms theft charge and awaits sentencing. Garlin is awaiting trial in U.S. District Court for the Pawn Now heist.

Although Austin Thrasher was arrested in connection with the pawn shop burglary, there is no record of him being charged in the federal courts database.