A state bar association hearing officer is recommending Steve Eugster be disbarred for his handling of a case involving a Stevens County widow.

Jane Bremner Risley, the officer for a hearing in early March, said this month that Eugster failed to abide by Marion Stead’s wishes that her son, Roger Samuels, have no control over her affairs and not inherit her estate when he filed papers naming Samuels as her guardian. Eugster insisted at the hearing he was acting to bring the two back together.

Risley also said Eugster failed to live up to other Rules of Professional Conduct, including a refusal to surrender documents when Stead hired a new attorney in 2004, revealing confidential information and humiliating her by having her served with papers in the communal area of an assisted living facility.

She contends that Eugster “fails to grasp the most fundamental tenet of law practice, serve your client, protect their confidences.”

Eugster, a former Spokane city councilman, declined to comment: “It’s in litigation. I don’t want to talk to you about it.”

A spokesman for the Washington State Bar Association said Risley’s recommendation will be reviewed by a 14-member Disciplinary Board, which could accept, change or reverse the findings. If the board recommends disbarment or discipline, that would be sent to the state Supreme Court, which would have the final say.

Spokane Valley

Hearing possible on Valley couplet

Before it decides whether to kill one-way traffic along the Sprague-Appleway couplet, the Spokane Valley City Council might pitch the proposal to the public one more time.

“I don’t think the public has weighed in specifically on this issue,” Councilman Mike DeVleming said at a Tuesday night meeting.

Several times in the past, commuters have said they like the couplet as is, with each street handling a single direction of traffic. However the city has been planning a community center near University Road and Sprague Avenue, and consultants say that won’t work without traffic changes.

DeVleming said he wants to make sure commuters know about the city center plans.

The City Council must decide by August whether to make the changes. A date for a public meeting wasn’t set, though council members supporting the change said they’d consider DeVleming’s suggestion.

BILLINGS

Woman charged with Idaho killing

A woman held in the Yellowstone County jail on a probation violation was served Tuesday with an Idaho warrant charging her with first-degree murder.

Tyrah B. Brown, 25, appeared in Justice Court by video from the jail on a warrant issued in Bonner County.

She and her husband are charged in the January shooting death of a Priest Lake man, the Bonner County Daily Bee reported.

Judge Pedro Hernandez honored a request on the warrant and set Brown’s bail at $5 million. Hernandez ordered Brown to appear in District Court on June 4.

The warrant also charges Brown with theft.

She is charged in Yellowstone County with violating the conditions of her probation from a 2003 felony escape conviction. A hearing on that charge is set for July 16.

Chief Deputy County Attorney Mark Murphy said his office received the Idaho warrant over the weekend. He said Brown was arrested in Florida on the Yellowstone County warrant for the probation violation.

The prosecutor in Bonner County handling the case against Brown was not immediately available for comment Tuesday evening.

However, the Daily Bee reported that Brown and her husband, Keith A. Brown, 46, are accused of fatally shooting a man on Jan. 23. A state employee marking trees found the body of Leslie C. Breaw, 48, of Priest Lake, near Breaw’s home.

Keith Brown has been charged with first-degree murder and is being held in Bonner County on $5 million bail, the newspaper reported.