Death Warrant Sought For Paradis

Fifteen years after a Kootenai County jury sentenced him to die, convicted murderer Donald Paradis is running out of legal options to save himself from lethal injection.

Kootenai County Prosecutor Bill Douglas Wednesday requested a death warrant for Paradis, 47.

Paradis’ execution was temporarily stymied recently, when First District Judge Gary Haman rejected the state attorney general’s request for a death warrant on procedural grounds. Haman ruled the county must apply for the warrant.

Paradis was convicted in 1981 of killing Kimberly Anne Palmer, 19, of Spokane after a night of gruesome violence at Paradis’ Spokane home.

Prosecutors say Paradis on June 21, 1980, helped kill Palmer’s boyfriend, Scott Currier, at the home, then took the body and Palmer - still alive - to a ravine near Post Falls. There, prosecutors claim, Palmer was throttled, finally dying face-down in a stream.

Paradis acknowledges helping get rid of the bodies, but says he had no part in the killings. His defense attorneys say they have compiled medical evidence and witness statements backing up the claim. They’ll make their case next month during a commutation hearing for Paradis before the Idaho Commission for Pardons and Parole.

Paradis has lost several appeals, including one in April before a federal judge in Boise.

, DataTimes