Sentence stands in Lott manslaughter case

PRIEST RIVER — The Idaho Court of Appeals is affirming the sentence handed to a former Bonner County man who killed his wife and tried to cover up the slaying.

Stephen Mathew Lott is serving a 25-year prison after entering an Alford plea to an amended charge of voluntary manslaughter and pleading guilty to failing to notify authorities of the death of his wife, Christine, a former Boundary County resident who disappeared in 2004.

Lott was accused of carrying on a years-long ruse to deceive their children and her family about her whereabouts and demise with shifting accounts. Her remains were discovered by an antler shed hunter in a remote, forested area east of Coeur d’Alene in 2016.

A Bonner County grand jury indicted Lott on charges of first-degree murder and failing to notify law enforcement of his wife’s death. At the time of his arrest, Lott was living in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

Under the terms of his plea, Lott admitted no wrongdoing in his wife’s death, but agreed he could be convicted of the manslaughter charge if the case went before a jury. Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall recommended the maximum sentences — 15 years for manslaughter and 10 for failing to notify — and argued they should be served consecutively.

First District Judge Barbara Buchanan agreed and ordered Lott to serve 25 years. On appeal, Lott argued that his sentences were excessive.

The appeals court, however, was not persuaded by Lott’s argument, according to unpublished opinion released on Tuesday.

Judges David Gratton, Jessica Lorello and Amanda Brailsford held that sentencing is a matter for the trial court’s discretion and the standard of review and factors to be considered at sentencing are well established.

“Applying these standards, and having reviewed the record in this case, we cannot say that the district court abused its discretion,” the judges said in the two-page opinion.

Lott, 50, is serving his sentence at the Idaho State Correctional Institution’s medical annex in Kuna, according to the Idaho Department of Correction. It emerged at sentencing that Lott has the autoimmune disease lupus and a kidney condition.

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Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.