Man Gets 31 Years For Murder

A 26-year-old Hayden Lake man was sentenced to 31 years in prison Thursday for the beating death of an Otis Orchards farmer.

James R. Pollock confessed to hitting 75-year-old Henry Heid several times on the head with a hammer and metal rod last April 8.

After his arrest, Pollock told police he traveled to Heid’s home to ask for work. Earlier last year he’d been paid by Heid to trim several bushes.

Pollock said he tried to take Heid’s wallet.

“Then he struck me and we got in a fight and the result was his death,” Pollock wrote in a statement made during his sentencing in Spokane County Superior Court on Thursday.

Pollock has four prior theft convictions, all in Idaho. He was on probation after serving time on two of those crimes when Heid was murdered.

Standing in court, Pollock said: “We shouldn’t have to be here, because this shouldn’t have happened.

“I’d like to apologize to the family. It probably means nothing to them, but it does to me.”

Judge James Murphy ordered the 31-year sentence to begin in May of 1999. Until then, Pollock will remain in an Idaho prison completing one of his theft sentences. , DataTimes