State seeks enhanced penalties in home-invasion case

SANDPOINT - The state is seeking enhanced penalties against a North Idaho man implicated in a daytime home-invasion robbery attempt on the city's southwest side last fall.

Randy Carl Eiland is charged with battery with intent to commit a serious felony, aggravated battery and burglary in connection with the Oct. 21, 2014, incident.

Bonner County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Shane Greenbank filed amended charging documents that add a persistent violator enhancement because Eiland has three prior felony convictions, including one for first-degree murder.

Chief Deputy Public Defender Dan Taylor, meanwhile, has put the state on notice that an alibi defense will be presented at trial, court records show. Taylor said his client was riding a Selkirks-Pend Oreille Transit bus on the other side of town when the break-in of the occupied home occurred.

The alleged victim told Sandpoint Police he heard the sound of breaking glass and discovered a man in his home. The intruder discharged bear repellent spray in the face of the homeowner, who took refuge in an upstairs room with his wife and daughter.

Eiland, 51, was found a quarter-mile away from the home, according to police reports. He was allegedly suffering from the effects exposure to the Capsaicinoid-based bear repellent and had glass shards on his clothing, the report said.

Eiland waived his right to a preliminary hearing and proceeded to 1st District Court, where he entered not-guilty pleas to the felony charges.

A four-day jury trial is set for April. He remains jailed with bail set at $500,000.

Convictions on the felony battery charges could result in 15 years in prison on each count. Burglary is punishable by up 10 years. The persistent violator enhancement could tack on a five-to-life penalty to the sentences imposed in the underlying charges.

Eiland has previous convictions for second-degree burglary in Washington state in 1985 and second-degree theft in Alaska, according to court documents. Online, print and microfiche news accounts of the 1985 Snohomish County, Wash., murder Eiland was convicted of remain elusive.