Where's Odom?

COEUR d'ALENE — Kootenai County Public Defender John Adams doesn't know the whereabouts of, nor has he communicated with, his court-appointed client, Kyle Odom.

And he's going to court in an attempt to change that.

On April 27, Adams filed a civil lawsuit petitioning the Kootenai County District Court for a writ of habeas corpus — a court order to a person or agency requiring them to deliver a prisoner to the court that issued the order. Odom, accused of the attempted murder of Pastor Tim Remington, signed a waiver of extradition in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia on April 6 and is being escorted to Idaho by the U.S. Marshals Service.

"His whereabouts since then are unknown to his defense counsel," Adams wrote. "Kyle's restraint is illegal because he has been held in incommunicado in custody while being 'transported' for an unreasonable amount of time in violations of the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth amendments to the Constitution of the United States and Article I Sections g, 13, and 17, of the Idaho Constitution."

The U.S. Marshals Service completed 261,526 prisoner transports in 2015, according to agency's 2016 prisoner transport fact sheet. That same report states that, when a prisoner is in transit, the Marshals Service does not disclose any details other than verification that the Marshals have an individual in their custody and confirmation when prisoner transportation is complete.

To move prisoners over long distances more economically and with higher security than on commercial airlines, U.S. Marshals operates its own fleet of aircraft. The agency's passenger planes are available to transport prisoners for state and local civilian law enforcement organizations, but it is on a space-available, cost-reimbursement basis.

In his petition, Adams cites federal statute that states "transportation of a defendant in any case from one district of the United States to another is presumptive unreasonable when it last longer than 10 days." At the time of the filing, according to Adams, Odom had been considered in "transport" for 13 days.

"Delay in the prompt return of an arrestee raises several issues: the continued existence of probable cause, the defendant's lack of access to counsel, and the defendant's lack of bail and a bail hearing," Adams wrote.

On Wednesday, Kootenai County Sheriff Ben Wolfinger, through his attorney Darrin Murphey, filed a motion in Kootenai County District Court to dismiss the petition. According to Wolfinger's affidavit, which was attached to the motion, Odom is "not being detained or restrained in the (Kootenai County) jail or by deputies or other personnel from my office."

"To the best of my knowledge, information and belief, as of the date of this affidavit, the Petitioner, Kyle Andrew Odom, is not located in Kootenai County," the affidavit states.

Adams filed an identical civil lawsuit with the United States District Court of Idaho on April 27, naming an unknown United States Marshal as the defendant. However, at the request of Adams, the lawsuit was dismissed on May 3.

Kootenai County Prosecutor Barry McHugh told The Press Thursday that he could not comment on Odom's location, or provide an estimate as to when Odom is expected to arrive in Kootenai County.

This morning, Kootenai County District Court Judge Lansing Haynes will consider Wolfinger's motion to dismiss the civil lawsuit.