High Court overturns battery conviction

A 47-year-old Wallace man who is serving up to 10 years behind bars will be released from prison after the Idaho Supreme Court on Tuesday vacated his felony conviction.

In a unanimous decision, the state’s highest court overturned the 2014 domestic battery conviction of Darol Keith Anderson after justices ruled testimony from a preliminary hearing should not have been used at Anderson’s First District Court trial.

Anderson, who was sentenced in Kootenai County to serve up to 10 years in prison, is in the Idaho State Correctional Center in Boise where, prior to the Idaho Supreme Court’s decision, he would not have been eligible for parole for another two years.

The case stems from a September 2014 incident in which Anderson and his wife, Erica Messerly, who lived in Coeur d’Alene, had a fight over explicit pictures of another woman on Anderson’s cellphone. Shortly after midnight, according to court records, Messerly confronted Anderson regarding the images and kicked Anderson out of bed. A fight ensued in which Anderson allegedly choked Messerly and punched her in the face, knocking her unconscious. Anderson also allegedly struck Messerly with a pipe and held a steak knife to her throat, according to police.

A Coeur d’Alene Police officer documented marks on Messerly’s nose, a small cut on her throat, bite marks and a purple bruise, reportedly from being struck with a metal pipe.

Anderson was initially charged with four felonies including domestic battery, two counts of aggravated assault, attempted strangulation, and misdemeanor domestic battery.

But Messerly didn’t testify at the trial in which a Kootenai County jury convicted Anderson of felony domestic battery and misdemeanor domestic battery, sentencing him to between four and 10 years in prison. The court used Messerly’s testimony from an earlier preliminary hearing to convict Anderson.

Messerly didn’t appear at the trial because she had checked herself into Kootenai Behavioral Health, where she was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, according to court records.

In a physician’s report to the court, Messerly’s prognosis was considered poor, and having her testify at Anderson’s trial “would result in further deterioration of her... fragile condition.”

Defense attorneys appealed the conviction, arguing that Messerly’s reported PTSD and her substance use issues did not meet the criteria that courts require to allow a witness to forgo testifying at trial.

“These mental health issues do not satisfy ‘extreme circumstances’ to excuse her from testifying,” according to Anderson’s appeal.

Justices agreed with defense attorneys, ruling that First District Judge John T. Mitchell should not have allowed Messerly to forgo testifying, although testimony from police vouching for Messerly’s injuries was deemed acceptable.

Citing the Sixth Amendment, Chief Justice Roger S. Burdick wrote, “in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right ... to be confronted with the witnesses against him.”

Burdick wrote mental illness is one of the reasons allowed for not testifying under state and federal rules, but “the United States Supreme Court has not issued any opinions establishing a standard for unavailability due to mental illness.”