Inmates coming to Cd'A

By RALPH BARTHOLDT

Staff Writer

COEUR d’ALENE — Prosecutors are gearing up for a murder trial by transporting witnesses from state penitentiaries and housing them in the Kootenai County Jail.

Three motions granted over the past several weeks will result in moving inmates from Boise and Kuna to Kootenai County before the July 17 trial of Larry B. Penkunis, who is charged in the death of 19-year-old Michaela Morton.

Morton’s body was found in September 2016 on the concrete basement floor of her family’s Cougar Gulch home. Authorities initially wrote off the death as an overdose.

Much later, authorities arrested 35-year-old Penkunis, a three-time felon and drug dealer who had just been released from prison. He was charged with second-degree murder, leaving the scene of a death and two counts of delivering methamphetamine.

Authorities allege Penkunis forced the woman to do the drugs in retaliation for an earlier incident. According to the court records, Morton had reported Penkunis’s drug activities — a parole violation — to police just days before she was found dead.

Three days ago, a judge ordered Deborah P. Holmes, a 33-year-old housed in Kuna who is serving time for a Kootenai County burglary conviction, to be moved to Coeur d’Alene. Holmes comes up for parole in August.

Dana E. Thorne, also serving time in Kuna on a Kootenai County drug conviction, was approved for transport May 29. Thorne’s parole date is two years away.

Joshua D. Brown, convicted of burglary, drug possession and grand theft and serving time in Boise possibly until 2023, was approved for transport in early May.

Penkunis, who is being held on bonds of $250,000 for each of the four felonies, did not enter a plea at his April arraignment. He instead opted to stand silent, so First District Judge Richard Christensen entered not guilty pleas on his behalf.

Penkunis’s previous felony convictions include a felony DUI, aggravated assault and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He had two parole violations and was convicted of arson. If he is convicted of the latest charges, he could serve up to life in prison.

Penkunis’s next hearing is June 25 in Coeur d’Alene.