Prison ordered in battery case
SANDPOINT — First District Judge Barbara Buchanan ordered a Lewiston man on Monday to serve up to four years in prison for a drug-fueled clash with law officers near Cocolalla Lake last fall.
Leander Scott Hawkins will have to serve at least two years of the sentence before he can be considered for parole, according to court documents.
Hawkins, 47, was charged with felony assault on a law officer in connection with the September 2016 incident. He was also charged with misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence, providing false information to law enforcement and resisting arrest.
Dispatchers received a number of calls reporting a Ford F-150 pickup truck being driven erratically on U.S. Highway 95. Idaho State Police Trooper Jonathan Cushman located the rig in a turnout and was advised by a passerby that its occupants had gone into the woods.
Cushman, the arrest report said, encountered Hawkins and a 50-year-old woman who was cowering beneath him. Hawkins was ordered at gunpoint to surrender, but he drew the woman closer to him in a move that was described in court documents as a “hostage hold.”
A Bonner County sheriff’s deputy jolted Hawkins with a Taser, but it did not subdue him. Hawkins then hurled railroad track ballast rock at Cushman, in addition to a 1-foot by 1-foot rock, according to court documents.
In exchange for pleas to the felony battery and misdemeanor resisting charges, the remaining charges were dismissed, court records show.
Hawkins defense counsel, Sandpoint attorney Michael Waldrup, recommended Hawkins be placed in the Idaho Department of Correction’s retained jurisdiction program, also known as a rider. When jurisdiction is retained, a defendant becomes eligible for probation after a year of incarceration. Bonner County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Shane Greenbank recommended a four-year term because of Hawkins prior criminal record, court documents show.
Buchanan said violence was a recurring theme in Hawkins’ background and battery on a law officer is an offense she takes seriously, according to court documents.
“This requires a prison sentence,” she said.