Tribal family claims county violated religious rights

A Plummer family is accusing the Kootenai County coroner of violating their religious rights when he refused to turn over the body of a Coeur d’Alene tribal member against the will of the family.

In a lawsuit filed late Friday, Nichole and Hemene James, the parents of 21-year-old Olivia Pakootas, accuse Kootenai coroner Warren Keene of refusing to turn over the body and attempting to force an autopsy on their daughter against their will after a fatal 2018 car crash west of the Coeur d’Alene Casino.

Pakootas, a former multi-sport standout who helped Tekoa-Oakesdale girls basketball team reach the WIAA 1B title game in 2014, was driving west around 5:45 p.m. June 1 on Highway 58 in Idaho when she failed to negotiate a curve, struck a guardrail and flipped her vehicle.

The Jameses accuse Keene and the county of violating their religious freedom by taking Pakootas’s body, not telling the family where it was, attempting to force an autopsy against the family’s religious beliefs and preventing a traditional burial ceremony.

“Religious freedom is a constitutionally protected right,” said Tara Malek, who represents the Jameses. “Because of Dr. Keene’s refusal to recognize that right, the family continues to suffer and lacks closure. They were deprived of the dignity and comfort of their faith rituals. The loss of a child is difficult enough, and to have to turn to the courts for intervention in the midst of unimaginable grief shocks one’s conscience.”

Kootenai County Prosecuting Attorney Barry McHugh would not comment Tuesday on the tort claim.

The suit, which names the county and Keene, doesn’t specify a monetary amount but calls for attorney fees and a “just” award for damages. It also asks that any mention of alcohol as a factor in Olivia Pakootas’s death be struck from the death certificate.

According to the lawsuit, the coroner’s office did not make a blood draw until three days after the death and it took three additional days for the toxicology lab to receive the blood, which wasn’t packed in ice. The process defied county protocol and likely tainted the sample, which was used to determine alcohol content.

“The family said that Keene intentionally disregarded and rejected Olivia’s family’s religious objections to the autopsy …” according to the complaint.

Coeur d’Alene religious practices require the funeral ceremony to begin at the site of the death, where tribal members take the body and all belongings from the death site, and on the following day prepare the body for a wake in the tribe’s long house, and burial.

“Defendants’ extreme actions deprived (the Jameses) of their ability to practice their religious traditions …” according to the suit.

A tort claim must be filed within two years of the incident that gave rise to the claim. The county has 21 days to respond. If it doesn’t respond, the claim will be assigned to a judge.

Pakootas, who was also a high jump standout, went on to Spokane Community College where she competed in track and field.