In brief: Tribal police role expansion sought
The Coeur d’Alene Tribe is proposing legislation that would give tribal police the authority to arrest or cite non-tribal members and send them to state court.
Backers say the State and Indian Tribal Cooperative Law Enforcement Act would close a loophole that allows suspects to avoid justice on the reservation.
If approved, tribal officers would be able to arrest non-tribal members in Benewah County inside the Coeur d’Alene Reservation.
Idaho lawmakers haven’t introduced a draft as a bill yet. Rep. Jim Clark, R-Hayden Lake, is chairman of the House Judiciary and Rules Committee. He declined to comment.
The tribe hasn’t had the authority to arrest non-tribal members since a cross-deputization agreement between the tribe and the county ended in 2006.
Trooper cleared in shooting of pair
LEWISTON – An Idaho State Police official says a state trooper who killed one man and critically injured another in a shooting last year has been cleared by federal investigators.
State Police Capt. Lonnie Richardson said Trooper Jeffory Talbott has been cleared by the FBI in a decision that was reviewed by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Authorities say a May 18 car chase began with an attempted traffic stop for drunken driving and ended when Randall Vernon Ellenwood, 50, and Ricardo Daniel Rodriguez, 37, got out of the vehicle and confronted Talbott.
Police say Ellenwood and Rodriguez were “seriously physically battering” Talbott when Talbott fired his weapon at the unarmed men. Ellenwood died at the scene.
Man gets 76 years for 1982 shooting
SEATTLE – A man who fled Seattle 27 years ago after being accused of killing a woman and her unborn baby has been sentenced to 76 years in prison.
After the 1982 shooting of a pregnant woman who stopped to offer Robert Besabe a ride, he fled to California and assumed an alias. He served 10 years in prison for killing a different person and then was deported to his native Philippines.
He was arrested in September 2007 after he walked into the U.S. Embassy in Manila to try to get a new passport.
He had been on the FBI’s most-wanted list for 25 years and was quickly extradited to Washington. A King County jury found him guilty in November.