Suspect Accepts Plea Bargain In Kidnap, Rape Prosecutors Agree Not To Seek Death Penalty

A man accused of kidnapping and repeatedly raping a Seattle woman has accepted a plea bargain to avoid a possible death sentence.

Michael Brandi pleaded guilty last week to charges of first-degree kidnapping and rape. In return, prosecutors dropped 11 other charges against Brandi and agreed not to seek the death penalty, according to 1st District Court records.

The 28-year-old woman Brandi is accused of attacking on Oct. 10 was treated at Kootenai Medical Center and released.

In Idaho, first-degree kidnapping carries a potential death penalty, while rape is punishable by life in prison.

Sentencing is set for April 8. Brandi is being held in the Kootenai County Jail without bail.

Terms of the plea agreement do not restrict the prison term attorneys on both sides will be allowed to recommend, according to court records filed last Thursday.

Brandi, 33, is accused of abducting the woman at the Sherman IGA grocery store while she was waiting in a car for a friend. Over the next five hours, Brandi sexually assaulted the woman while stopped in two secluded areas along French Gulch, court documents state.

Police in Union City, Calif., arrested Brandi five days later after the woman had picked him out of a photo lineup.

Besides kidnapping and rape, prosecutors initially had charged Brandi with grand theft, sexual penetration with a foreign object and infamous crime against nature, or sodomy. A District Court magistrate added 11 other charges following a preliminary hearing, including 10 additional counts of rape and other sex crimes and another theft charge.

The woman testified during a Dec. 8 preliminary hearing that Brandi also had assaulted her during stops in two city alleyways and had stolen her wallet.

All but the kidnapping charge and a single rape charge have been dismissed.