Killer Appeals Sentence Of Life In Prison

An appeal to the Idaho Supreme Court already took convicted killer James Kevin Pratt off death row, leaving him to serve his life in prison.

Now Pratt, 36, is appealing that life sentence at a Supreme Court hearing today in Coeur d’Alene.

Pratt and his attorney, Joan Fisher, claim the judge who sentenced Pratt to death was biased and should not have been on the bench at his resentencing.

Retired Judge Watt E. Prather presided over Pratt’s trial in 1989 and resentenced him in 1994. Fisher tried to have Prather thrown off the case for the resentencing hearing.

Prather declined to step down or hold a hearing that would have given Fisher a chance to show he was not an impartial judge. Prather reasoned it would take another judge too long to review the piles of files in the case and that as a judge it was his job to be unbiased.

Fisher also argued in court documents that Prather had improper out-of-court conversations with the prosecutor in the case.

Prather has denied that allegation. The only talks he had with former prosecutor Phil Robinson were over court scheduling, Prather said. He also said he wrote a letter of recommendation for Robinson when he applied for a magistrate post, but it had nothing to do with the Pratt case.

Pratt was convicted of shooting to death U.S. Forest Service Agent Brent “Jake” Jacobson. Pratt’s brother, Joseph, was also sentenced to life in prison for his part in the killing.

The Pratt brothers attempted to rob a house in Sagle on Jan. 11, 1989. They ended up taking a teenager hostage at the house and later fled, sparking a shootout with police. While hunting for the Pratts in a wooded area west of Sandpoint, Jacobson was shot and killed.

Fisher wants a retrial for James Pratt and argued at the last hearing for a maximum 10-year prison sentence.

, DataTimes