|
Location |
Defendant(s) |
Date of Alleged Crime |
| Ada County, ID |
Donna Thorngren |
Jan 12, 2003 (Meridian) |
|
Donna Kay Thorngren was convicted of the murder of her 42-year-old husband,
Curtis Thorngren. Curt was found shot to death in a bathroom in
their home. Two months before the murder, Curt's life insurance,
payable to Donna, had been increased to a payout of $320,000. The
change was effective as of Jan 1, 2003, 11 days before Curt's murder. However, at Hewlett-Packard, Curt's place of employment,
all employees were
given the opportunity to increase their policies with new benefits effective
the same date.
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|
| Boundary County, ID |
Vicki Weaver |
Aug 1992 |
|
(Federal Case) Vicki
Weaver, the
wife of Randy Weaver, was shot to death by federal snipers while standing on
the doorway of her cabin, holding an infant child. The shooting occurred
during a controversial siege by federal agents at the Weaver cabin in Ruby
Ridge, near Naples, ID. The siege also resulted in the deaths of Deputy US
Marshal William Degan and 14-year-old Sammy Weaver in a shootout below the
cabin. The case became the subject of U.S. Senate subcommittee hearings.
In 1995, the Justice Department agreed to pay Randy Weaver and his three
daughters, $3.1 million to settle a wrongful death suit. The settlement
would pay each of the daughters $1 million and $100,000 to Randy Weaver.
[3/06] |
| Canyon County,
ID |
Charles Irvin Fain |
Feb 24, 1982 (Nampa) |
|
After
9-year-old Daralyn Johnson was kidnapped, raped, and drowned, Charles Irvin Fain, along
with dozens of others was asked to provide hair samples for comparison to
the hairs found on the victim. After performing microscopic hair
comparison, an FBI forensics expert determined that the suspect hairs were
similar to Fain's. At trial, the prosecution also relied on the testimony of two
jailhouse informants. They claimed that Fain had told them of his
involvement in the crime and provided graphic details. Fain was convicted
and sentenced to death. He served 18 years of imprisonment before DNA tests showed that the
hairs did not come from him. (IP)
(CWC)
[6/05] |
| Idaho County, ID |
Mark Lankford |
June 21, 1983 |
|
Mark Henry Lankford was
convicted along with his brother Bryan of beating to death Robert and Cheryl
Bravence in the Idaho wilderness. Mark was not at the scene of the crime
but was convicted because Bryan was promised life imprisonment instead of
death, for testimony against his brother. Bryan has since recanted, but
Mark has spent 20 years in solitary confinement on Death Row. (Free
Mark) [3/05] |
| Kootenai County, ID |
Donald Paradis |
June 21, 1980 (Post Falls) |
|
Donald Manuel Paradis was sentenced to death for the murder of 19-year-old
Kimberly Anne Palmer. Paradis was a leader of the Gypsy Jokers
motorcycle gang. Prior to the murder he allowed a number of people to use his
home in Spokane, WA. On June 21, 1980, Palmer was strangled to death
in his home and her boyfriend, Scott Currier, was beaten to death.
Paradis was not home at the time of the crime. The victims' killers
have since been established, and both the killers and other witnesses made
it clear that Paradis had nothing to do with the killings.
When Paradis
came home and found the bodies, he feared he would be accused of the
murders. So he and two other men wrapped the bodies in sleeping bags
and put them in a car. He then drove the bodies across the state line
and dumped them in Post Falls, Idaho.
Paradis was tried in Washington for the murder of Currier, but was
acquitted. William Brady, the pathologist who performed an autopsy on
Palmer, fostered the impression that Palmer had been killed in Idaho.
Brady's improbable theory became the basis for Idaho authorities to
prosecute Paradis for the murder of Palmer. Brady was later fired from
his job as a medical examiner in nearby Oregon. An investigation showed that
he had used state facilities to perform private autopsies, had sold human
tissue for profit, and had saved human blood collected during autopsies
for use in his garden.
At trial, Paradis's court-appointed lawyer was William Brown. Brown
had never studied criminal law, never tried a felony case, and never tried a
case before a jury. He was also working as a police officer in Coeur
D'Alene at the same time he was representing Paradis at his Coeur D'Alene
trial. Some of the prosecution witnesses were Brown's fellow police
officers. Brown's defense of Paradis lasted three hours.
In 1996, Idaho Governor Batt commuted Paradis's
death sentence to life without parole.
In April 2001, a federal judge vacated Paradis's conviction because
prosecutors withheld potentially exculpatory evidence. Prosecutors
then dropped charges against Paradis after he pled guilty to moving a corpse.
He was sentenced to five years in prison and released for time served as he had
already served 21 years. (NY
Times)
[9/08] |
|
