Board Recommends Life For Paradis Batt Has Final Say After Panel Reviews Evidence In Celebrated Murder Case

Life without parole - not death - is the best sentence for Donald Paradis, the Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole ruled Friday.

By a 3-2 vote, the commission recommended to Gov. Phil Batt that Paradis’ death sentence be commuted. Batt now has 30 days to make the final call.

Paradis, who has maintained his innocence in the 1980 murder of Kimberly Palmer, shared a quick hug with his attorney, Bill Mauk, as commission chairwoman Camille Tillinghast announced the decision.

“He squeezed my hand,” Mauk said afterward. “You could see the tears in his eyes. You could feel the relief in his whole body.”

Paradis, a heavy man with newly cropped hair and silver-rimmed glasses secured by a blue cloth strap, sat quietly as first Tillinghast, then the commissioners who voted in the minority, spoke. As he rose to leave, Paradis whispered to Mauk, “See you in B Block.”

That’s housing for the general prison population. During Paradis’ last trip there, when he was off Death Row for 18 months in 1992-93 due to a court decision, he earned his high school equivalency certificate, organized a religious discussion group, took an anger management class and played softball.

Edwin Matthews, Paradis’ other attorney, recalled, “One day he called me and said he’d walked on grass for the first time in 10 years.”

The commissioners voting with the majority - Tillinghast, Del Ray Holm and Daniel Sharp - listed four major reasons for recommending against execution:

They did not believe Palmer was killed “in the immediate vicinity of where her body was found.” That contention was key to the prosecution’s case.

The original jury never heard expert testimony about a bloodless wound on Palmer’s body, and its significance.

Death Row inmate Thomas Gibson admitted beating and choking Palmer and possibly killing her.

A Coeur d’Alene jury, presented with the same evidence that convicted Paradis and Gibson, acquitted the third defendant, Larry Evans.

Where Palmer died was a key point in the case, because the state had strong circumstantial evidence showing that Paradis, Gibson and Evans drove to a site near Post Falls and left about 30 minutes later, leaving behind the bodies of Palmer and her boyfriend, Scott Currier.

Paradis argued that both were killed at his Spokane home while he was gone, and he merely helped dispose of the bodies. Prosecutors presented a theory that Palmer still was alive when she was brought to the site, tried to run away, and was strangled there.

The bloodless wound was significant because experts agreed that it had to have been inflicted well after death. Paradis’ attorneys argued that proved Palmer died well before her body was taken to Post Falls.

Jay Nielsen and Russell Newcomb, the two commissioners who voted in the minority, wrote a strongly worded opinion saying they felt no new evidence had been presented to dispute the original jury’s conviction, and Paradis should die.

“In our opinion, nothing has been presented that would change in any way the findings of those 12 good and reputable citizens of Kootenai County,” Newcomb said.

Idaho Solicitor General Lynn Thomas clearly was disturbed by the decision.

“It is inconceivable that the work of eight courts spread over 15 years could be set aside on the basis of six hours of unsworn testimony not subject to cross-examination,” he said.

Thomas has helped prosecute Paradis for more than a decade, through numerous appeals.

Mauk and Matthews represented Paradis without charge, and both became convinced of his innocence. Mauk, who also is head of Idaho’s Democratic Party, has been involved for nine years.

Paradis and his attorneys contended that evidence not presented at his trial - from Gibson’s confession to medical analyses - was not considered in any of his appeals.

“We’ve always believed that if this case saw the light of day, that the people of Idaho could not ignore the injustice that has occurred to Donald Paradis,” Mauk said.

“There’s life and there’s hope with this decision.”

Amy Kleiner, spokesman for Batt, attended the entire proceeding, along with another Batt staffer. The governor will review all the materials considered before making his decision, she said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo