Battery, kidnapping result in 25-year sentence

COEUR d'ALENE - A man with prior convictions for domestic violence was sentenced on Wednesday to 25 years in prison for second degree kidnapping and aggravated battery.

Jason Cory Tiedeman, 25, of Coeur d'Alene, was sentenced by District Judge John Mitchell, who ordered that the first four years of the sentence on the kidnapping charge would be fixed, and the remaining 21 years indeterminate, and the first four years on the aggravated battery charge would be fixed, with the remaining 11 years determinate, with the sentences to be concurrent.

Mitchell also entered a restitution order in the amount of $8,063 and left restitution open for a year should it be appropriate.

Tiedeman pleaded guilty to the charges on March 24 for choking, beating, stabbing and threatening to kill his then girlfriend if she left their residence. Tiedeman had prior convictions for domestic violence in Nevada and Kootenai County.

Tiedeman told officers on the night of the incident that he was too intoxicated to remember what had happened, and he continued during the course of the case to claim a lack of memory of what happened.

Mitchell rejected Tiedeman's request that he retain jurisdiction, stating that the seriousness of the crime justified a prison sentence, and that it was highly unlikely Tiedeman's issues could be resolved in six months.

Kootenai County Prosecuting Attorney Barry McHugh said "the sentence imposed by Judge Mitchell is appropriate to adequately punish Mr. Tiedeman for this very serious offense. The incident was one in a pattern of domestic violence. While Mr. Tiedeman blamed his conduct on alcohol and steroid use, the prior incidents indicate a more significant underlying problem. In four years the Department of Correction will be in a position to determine if Mr. Tiedeman can change his ways. If not, he will spend a large portion of his adult life in prison."