Manslaughter, conspiracy charges filed in 2016 fatal boat collision

COEUR d’ALENE — More than a year after a boat crash killed three people on Lake Coeur d’Alene, the alleged driver of one of the boats is now facing manslaughter and criminal conspiracy charges.

Dennis Magner, of Spokane, entered a not guilty plea to the charges this morning before First District Judge Cynthia C.K. Meyer in Coeur d’Alene.

Magner, 51, is also charged with criminal conspiracy related to the investigation of the July 30, 2016 crash that claimed the lives of Caitlin Breeze, 21, of Spokane; Justin Luhr, 34, of Medical Lake; and Justin Honken, 31, of Post Falls.

The boat Magner was driving, per Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office investigators, was carrying four passengers when it crashed into a stationary vessel occupied by Breeze, Luhr and Honken.

The Sheriff’s Office announced, six months after the collision, that four of the five people on Magner’s boat, including Magner, initially provided false information about the identity of the boat’s driver.

“In the days following the crash, information became public that three people were missing and presumed drowned,” the Sheriff’s Office said, in a February news release. “It was then that three of the occupants aboard Magner’s boat recanted their original statements to deputies and identified Magner as the person actually operating the vessel at the time of the crash.”

One of those passengers, Jonathan C. Sweat, 40, of Spokane, is also charged with criminal conspiracy.