Judge Delays Setting Execution Date

A First District judge in Coeur d’Alene is not yet ready to set a date for a death row inmate’s execution.

In a letter to Idaho Solicitor General Lynn Thomas, Judge Gary Haman said he did not want to set the date for Don Paradis’ execution until other court matters were first settled.

Paradis, 45, of Spokane, was sentenced to death for the June 1980 strangulation death of 19-year-old Kimberly Ann Palmer. Her body was found wrapped in a sleeping bag in a stream near Post Falls.

Paradis has maintained Palmer was killed by others at his home in Spokane while he was away. He claims that his sole crime was bringing her body to Post Falls and dumping it off to avoid being blamed for the slaying.

Paradis has asked 1st District Judge James Judd in Coeur d’Alene to overturn his conviction and sentence and give him a new trial.

Judd has yet to make a decision on that request. Judge Haman said he does not want to set an execution date until that decision is made.

Haman said he also must wait for the Idaho Supreme Court to officially send the case to 1st District Court before he can set the date.