Horner pleads not guilty to sex, drug charges

SANDPOINT — A Sandpoint woman charged with committing an infamous crime against nature and drug possession pleaded not guilty on Monday in 1st District Court.

Kimberly Lynn Horner is scheduled to be tried on the drug charges in October and the sexual misconduct charges in November, court records show.

Horner, 48, was charged with possessing methamphetamine and marijuana after agents with the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force arrested her husband on child pornography charges in November.

A search of digital media devices in the couple’s home allegedly turned up a video footage showing her engaging in a sex act with a dog, court records indicate.

Horner’s pleas set the stage for separate trials in October and November.

If convicted of the sex charge, Horner faces a sentence of five years to life. The meth possession charge is punishable by up to seven years in prison.

Horner’s husband, Jerry, was charged with five counts of possession of child pornography and six counts of sharing child pornography via the Internet. He was also charged with possession of pot and meth.

The child porn charges against Jerry Horner, also 48, were dropped amid expectations that he will be federally prosecuted. The drug charges remained in state court, although they were dismissed last month.

Bonner County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Shane Greenbank moved to dismiss the drug-related charges without prejudice in attempt to obtain a “global resolution” to all of the charges in Jerry Horner’s case, court records indicate. The nature of the dismissal allows them to be re-filed.

Federal charges against Jerry Horner are still pending. There is no record of federal charges against him yet, according to database searches of U.S. District Court records in Idaho or eastern Washington.

The task force began investigating Jerry Horner after he allegedly offered for download a seven-minute video of child pornography on an online fire-sharing network.

The task force subsequently searched the couple’s Oak Street home and discovered additional illicit videos, including the one involving his wife, court records indicate.