Attorneys near plea deal in murder case

COEUR d’ALENE — Attorneys must rework a plea agreement in a Post Falls death case after a First District Judge apprised them Thursday that an agreement without clear parameters would not be accepted by the court.

Attorneys have been fencing over whether jurors who indicted Ryan A. Forbes for second-degree murder had heard all the evidence, and public defenders asked the court to dismiss the charges against Forbes, but Thursday both parties told Judge Lansing Haynes that an agreement was in the offing.

Deputy Prosecutor Stanley Mortensen asked Haynes to postpone a trial set early next month as he and Kootenai County Public Defender Anne Taylor hammered out an agreement.

“Both parties are asking the court to slow this case down,” Mortensen said. “I think we’re really close to a plea deal.”

Forbes was indicted and arrested last year on a charge of second-degree murder for the May 2014 death of his girlfriend, 19-year-old Cathryn Mason. Mason was found dead in his bedroom in the Post Falls home where he lived with his parents, and authorities accused Forbes of giving her the drugs that killed her.

But evidence showed Mason and Forbes used opiates together, according to court records, and Forbes was initially arrested for possession of illegal drugs, but he was not charged with killing his girlfriend until the December 2017 indictment.

Haynes, who has not yet issued a decision on defense motions in the case, said he would consider a plea arrangement only if both parties agreed on a sentence, instead of a sentencing range.

Attorneys had indicated their plea agreement would have Forbes plead to involuntary manslaughter, and that the minimal sentence would be for the court to retain jurisdiction for no more than a year before allowing Forbes to be on probation. Both parties however could argue before the judge for or against additional prison time.

“I only accept (plea agreements) that have agreed to joint recommendations,” Haynes said.

Haynes also said he would have an answer within two weeks to the motions filed in the case.