Bond remains for rape suspect

By RALPH BARTHOLDT

Staff Writer

COEUR d’ALENE — Billy Lee Joslin Jr. won’t be released from jail, his bond will not be reduced and, for now at least, he will not be allowed to participate in the inmate worker program, a First District judge ruled.

Joslin, whose jury trial is scheduled Aug. 21, is in the Kootenai County jail facing charges of rape, which can carry a sentence of life in prison, strangulation, burglary, kidnapping and robbery.

He asked the court to lower his bond from $250,000 to $100,000 because he grew up in the area, according to his attorney, public defender Amanda Montalvo. 

Joslin has extensive family ties here and wants to be assigned to the inmate worker program, which allows inmates to work inside the jail, Montalvo said.

But deputy prosecutor Rebecca Perez reminded the court of previous domestic battery cases in which defendants were released to further harm the victims.

“This is a violent offense,” Perez told the court. “This is one where people were hurt. This court is well aware of recent domestic violence cases that escalated into something far worse.”

Earlier this year in an unrelated case, 61-year-old Steven Denson who was released from jail after being charged with domestic violence, allegedly gunned down his ex-fiancee. He later took his own life.

Perez argued that reducing Joslin’s bond could put the community at risk.

“This is scary for our community to have this type of person out of custody,” Perez said. “He is looking at serious prison time.”

The defendant has served a prison sentence for a similar offense, she said.

Joslin, 39, is accused of waiting outside his ex-girlfriend’s home last year on the 1500 block of E. Skyview Lane in Hayden.

When she entered her apartment around noon, Joslin allegedly followed her inside, choked and raped her, before driving her back to work in her own car, keeping the keys to the victim’s vehicle and to her home.

He avoided arrest by authorities who waited outside the 37-year-old victim’s workplace on Government Way where Joslin promised to pick the victim up from her job. He was later arrested hiding in a shop in a Post Falls residential area.

Montalvo argued Joslin maintains his innocence, and his previous conviction was a separate incident.

“He’s innocent until proven guilty,” Montalvo told the court, but District Judge Cynthia K.C. Meyer ruled the $250,000 bond was appropriate.

“When we have charges with such long potential sentences there is a risk of flight,” Meyer said.