Judge Decides Eby Will Stand Trial

There’s enough evidence to put 18-year-old Daniel Eby on trial for first-degree murder, attempted robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery charges, a judge decided Friday.

Eby and his 14-year-old cousin Jeremy Schmitz are charged in the beating death of Melvin Evenson of Post Falls.

Schmitz’ stepfather, 44-year-old Clifford A. Hicks of Wallace, is charged with accessory to murder.

Magistrate Judge Robert Burton said Eby’s own admission that he acted as a lookout at a Rathdrum garage as part of a plan to “roll” Evenson for drugs and money, plus his physical presence in the garage when Eby said he witnessed Schmitz and Hicks striking Evenson, is enough probable cause for a trial.

That’s a victory for the prosecution, especially after Burton also ruled Friday that Jeremy Schmitz’ confession to police may not be used as evidence against Eby, because it is considered hearsay.

“This is not a real easy call. This is a close call,” Burton said of his decision not to allow the confession as evidence.

In police interviews, Schmitz confessed to his part in the killing, and in the process said Eby had an equal hand in the crime. Because he implicated himself and wasn’t trying to pin more blame on Eby, prosecutors argued his confession should be considered truthful enough to be submitted as evidence, without making him testify.

But Eby’s public defenders said unless Schmitz takes the stand, it’s only hearsay. Otherwise, Eby doesn’t have a right to confront the prosecution’s key witness.

Burton ruled that Schmitz’ statement that Eby had a hand in the crime can’t be used against Eby because Schmitz only began to offer the information after police discussed lethal injection and indicated he could get a lesser sentence.

“Certainly a 14-year-old in this position might think that cooperation would lessen the sentence, especially after being told he could face death,” Burton said, after reviewing the videotaped police interviews.

Evenson’s naked body was found bound with duct tape and hidden under piles of moving boxes in the back of a pickup parked off Chilco Road in April.

He died of 10 blows to the head in a garage on Fantasy Loop Road in Rathdrum on the weekend of March 22. A trial will be scheduled within the next 14 days.

, DataTimes