Boy’s father won’t face death penalty

Barry L. McAdoo, accused of killing his 15-month-old son, will not face the death penalty, Kootenai County Prosecutor Bill Douglas has decided.

McAdoo, 30, is being held at the Kootenai County Jail on a charge of first-degree murder in the death of his son, Brandon L. McAdoo, who died Jan. 16 from a blunt injury to his head, according to court records.

McAdoo told sheriff’s Sgt. Dan Mattos that the child became ill after choking on a plastic grocery bag on Jan. 12. After removing the bag from Brandon’s mouth, he said he threw Brandon in the air in hopes of reviving him and Brandon fell to the floor, according to court records.

Brandon began breathing again, but he was listless and not well when his mother, Angela Cowles, came home from work, she told Mattos.

McAdoo discouraged Cowles from seeking medical help, however, and even locked the mother and child inside their east Coeur d’Alene trailer to prevent her from leaving, Cowles told Mattos.

Cowles finally called for medical help two days later, after Brandon stopped breathing, but she initially told officers that Brandon was injured when she slipped and fell on the ice.

Douglas said he decided not to pursue the death penalty because the case lacks the aggravating factors to make it a capital case under Idaho law.

“The state would be unable to prove any of the required aggravating factors beyond a reasonable doubt,” Douglas said Wednesday. Such aggravating factors include murder of a police officer or firefighter, murder by contract and multiple homicides.

Douglas said he announced his decision early to avoid any needless expense that could come from treating the matter as a capital case.

Meanwhile, the county has spent more than $25,000 on McAdoo’s medical bills and to equip the jail with a wheelchair and other special furnishings for the murder suspect.

After Cowles sought medical help for her son, McAdoo took 50 sleeping pills and ate a box of rat poison, he told investigators.

It’s uncertain where McAdoo was until Jan. 21, when he checked himself into Spokane’s Sacred Heart Medical Center with frostbite so extreme that both his legs were amputated below the knees.

The county spent about $780 a day to guard McAdoo at the hospital, said Sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger.

Up to $10,000 of McAdoo’s medical bills eventually could be covered by the county’s indigent fund, and the rest may be covered by the state’s catastrophic health care fund, Wolfinger said.

McAdoo’s preliminary hearing is set for March 2.