Dunno who deserves a Rotten Potato most in the judicial two-step that will land scared-straight Kendra Goodrick of Hayden back in prison. 1st District Judge John Mitchell for overstepping his authority? The Kootenai County prosecutor's office for appealing her case? The Idaho AG's office for joining the prosecutor's appeal? Kendra is the 29-year-old mother of a newborn who embraced Mitchell's second chance to turn her life around. A recovering meth addict, Kendra cleaned up her life after Mitchell granted her probation in January 2006. Not only did she land a job, marry her boyfriend and give birth to her first child (April 10), but she's stayed clean, continues to seek help to fight her addiction, and volunteers to walk dogs at the Kootenai Humane Society. She's a model of success. But none of this matters now. Kendra's waiting for the gendarmes to break up her family and haul her off in handcuffs, now that the prosecutor's office has successfully argued on appeal that Mitchell acted outside his jurisdiction when he granted Kendra's probation. I don't have room to go into the specifics here, except to say that Kendra might remain in prison for six months before she gets a Commission of Pardons and Parole hearing. Someone here deserves a psych-illogical exam. And it ain't Kendra.

Complete Hot Potatoes column here

DFO: If you ever get an idea for a Hot Potatoes quip, don't hesitate to send it along to me. I'm always looking for ideas -- sometimes desperately on a Wednesday afternoon.

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