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Harley Robert Park, now 37, is charged with first-degree murder for allegedly killing a prominent Camas County businessman 12 years ago near Fairfield. Park is shown here at the Elmore County Jail in Mountain Home, pending court determination whether or not he is now mentally fit to stand trial.
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CAMAS MURDER CASE TRANSFERRED TO BLAINE COUNTY
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sun the weekly
T h e W e e k ly S u n •
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urisdiction in a 12-yearold Camas County murder case, where a prominent Fairfield businessman was allegedly beaten to death, was transferred on Monday to Blaine County. As yet untried by a jury, the first-degree murder case against Harley Robert Park, now 37, presently depends upon a future ruling by 5th District Court Judge Robert J. Elgee regarding the mental fitness of the defendant. Prior rulings by the judge have held that Park is not mentally stable enough to assist with his own defense, which is the determining factor used by Idaho courts to decide whether a defendant can be legally tried. Park has remained incarcerated since the death of 61-year-old Lynn Stevenson the afternoon of Sept. 3, 2003, at the nine-hole Cottonwood Golf Course Stevenson owned near the Soldier Mountain ski resort north of Fairfield. Park remained incarcerated at State Hospital South in Blackfoot, where he had been committed by court order, for most of the past 12 years, until April, when doctors for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare determined that his mental condition had improved enough that a trial could be held. Following the Health and Welfare determination, Park was discharged from State Hospital South and transferred to the Elmore County Jail in Mountain Home, where he remained an inmate on Tuesday. He is being held in Elmore County because Camas County does not have a jail. However, questions still remain as to Park’s mental state, and Elgee ordered a new evaluation in June by Dr. Robert Engle, a Boise psychotherapist. That evaluation is as yet undone and is not expected to be completed until late September, when Elgee will again consider the mental fitness of Park to stand trial. Hailey attorney Douglas Nel-
september 2, 2015
son, court appointed as public defender for Park in 2003, told Judge Elgee at a status hearing in Hailey on Monday that he is doubtful of Park’s competency for trial. “Every time I talk with Harley, I’m just certain that Dr. Engle is going to come back and say, ‘nah, he’s not fit for trial,’” Nelson said. Elgee’s ruling to transfer jurisdiction of the case to Blaine County came at the Monday hearing and was done at the request of both Nelson and Special Prosecutor Krista Howard, a deputy attorney with the Idaho Attorney General’s Office. “I’ve heard from two reliable sources that the people of Camas County don’t want to have to deal with this and want it moved somewhere else,” Nelson told the judge. Regardless of the transfer to Blaine County, Elgee is to remain presiding judge because he is the Idaho 5th Judicial District judge in both Blaine and Camas counties. Nelson has also filed a motion seeking to repress statements that Park is accused of making to police immediately after the death of Stevenson. However, Nelson agreed Monday that it may be “moot” for Elgee to consider the motion until after a determination is made as to Park’s fitness for trial, which remains scheduled to begin on Dec. 8. The killing of Stevenson on Sept. 3, 2003, came one day after the murders of Alan and Diane Johnson at the couple’s home in Bellevue on Sept. 2, 2003. Their daughter, Sarah Johnson, who was 16 at the time and is now 28, was subsequently convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and is currently serving two life sentences without the possibility of parole. The killing of Stevenson a day later received scant news media attention, likely because of the Continued MURDER Page 10