Idaho man gets 6 years for robbery plans

SANDPOINT – An Idaho man who planned to rob the owners of a Newport, Wash., theater has been sentenced to six years in prison.

In March 2005, Terry Lee Randolph, 40, of Priest River, tried to enlist an accomplice to rob Roxy Theater owners Richard and Gladys Bishop, a Bonner County jury found.

Prosecutors said Randolph planned to bind and gag the couple in their Spokane home and then break into their safe, reported the Bonner County Daily Bee newspaper.

But Randolph’s would-be accomplice alerted police to the plan before the robbery.

In December, Randolph told the court the plot was only a joke and misunderstood by the would-be accomplice.

“The fact is Terry didn’t do it. It was talk,” said Linda Payne, Randolph’s defense attorney.

First District Judge James Michaud ordered Randolph to a minimum two years in prison before he would become eligible for parole and rebuffed defense arguments that no crime was committed.

“Although no violence was carried out, the threat of violence was possible,” Michaud said.

Randolph’s defense also argued that he was manic-depressive, with mood swings and “grandiose” ideas. The plan to rob the Bishops was a result of that mania, Payne said.

Randolph said the Department of Corrections and previous judges were to blame for not treating his mental health issues after he was sentenced for a previous assault case in Lewiston.

Michaud said neither the state nor previous judges were at fault. He blamed Randolph for his own lack of commitment in treating the illness.

Payne wanted an 18-month sentence for Randolph, citing his testimony in a murder case in Nez Perce County. She said because of that, Randolph will be targeted by other inmates.