Counsel Seeks Transfer, Early Release For Driver Who Killed Post Falls Boy Bickley Asks To Be Returned To Kootenai County Jail

With Connie Bickley’s parole hearing still five months away, her attorney renewed a request Tuesday for the woman’s return to the county jail and eventual release on probation.

The 56-year-old Post Falls woman pleaded guilty last year to vehicular manslaughter in the death of Nicholas Scherling. Defense attorney Suzanna Graham said 1st District Judge Craig Kosonen’s decision this spring to relinquish jurisdiction over Bickley’s case has left her in an unfair predicament.

State parole officials incorrectly interpreted the judge’s action as Bickley’s failure to complete a program that could have won her early release from prison, Graham said. Such failures prolong the parole process.

Consequently, instead of becoming eligible for release on parole next month as the judge ordered last July, Bickley must wait until at least November, Graham said.

To remedy the situation, Graham again proposed transferring Bickley back to the Kootenai County Jail, clearing the way for her release on probation. Graham made a similar, unsuccessful pitch to Kosonen last fall.

Kosonen sentenced Bickley to six years in prison last July, ordering her to serve at least a year before becoming eligible for parole. Bickley admitted her car veered off Seltice Road and killed Scherling, a 13-year-old Post Falls Middle School student on his way home from school.

The judge plans to make his decision on Bickley’s request within the next two weeks.

Prosecutors have adamantly opposed Bickley’s transfer to the county jail and eventual earlier release.

Deputy prosecutor Rick Baughman argued Tuesday that defense attorneys already have made their one request to shorten Bickley’s sentence guaranteed by state law. Further challenges to Bickley’s sentence should be made to the court of appeals, Baughman said.

“At some point in time we’ve got to close the door, judge,” he said.

Graham told Kosonen that allowing Bickley to finish her sentence in the county jail will give her access to treatment programs she has been denied at the Pocatello Women’s Correctional Center.

Jana Scherling, Nicholas’ mother, attended Tuesday’s hearing, as did her ex-husband, Mark Scherling. Neither spoke to the court.

“No time that Connie Bickley spends will ever be payment for Nicholas Scherling’s life,” Graham said.