Man sentenced to 5 years for heroin, gun charges
Doudna
COEUR d’ALENE — The three grams of heroin and two stolen guns police found when they arrested Nicholas J. Doudna in the Ironwood Square parking lot in May netted the 30-year-old a five-year prison sentence.
First District Judge John Mitchell sentenced Doudna last week to three fixed, five-year prison terms — all served concurrently — for two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of trafficking heroin.
Doudna, who has a California record and was on probation at the time of his arrest May 1, was also wanted by the feds, who asked that his case be dismissed so they could file charges for a 10-year sentence, according to court records.
Federal charges often carry more stringent sentences.
At his Aug. 22 sentencing, Doudna indicated he pleaded guilty to the three charges to avoid federal prosecution.
His attorney, Jay Logsdon, told the court the plea was imminent.
“I have communication from the U.S. Attorney that unless he pleads and accepts ... a five-year fixed sentence, this case will be dismissed and they will file on these charges in federal court,” Logsdon said.
However, federal charges were never filed.
Doudna was arrested in May after failing to stay in contact with his probation officer. Coeur d’Alene police contacted Doudna in April at the Coeur d’Alene Motel 6 to inform him he needed to report to his probation officer. When he failed, police tracked him to the Ironwood Square shopping center, where he was arrested in the parking lot.
Police said the heavily-tattooed Doudna had a safe in the trunk of his girlfriend’s silver 2004 Infinity that contained a Glock 9 mm with three bullets in the magazine, and a Ruger 40-caliber handgun, as well as a ball of brown heroin weighing about 3.2 grams.
Idaho code charges any quantity of heroin over 2 grams as trafficking.
Doudna told police he stole the guns from unlocked vehicles, according to a police report. He would not tell police where he got the heroin, but he admitted to trying to sell the guns and heroin to make money, according to a report.