Court determines arson suspect’s competency is ‘significantly impaired’

By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff

Arson suspect Jennifer S. Meyer was in Bonner County court again Aug. 21, appearing with Public Defender Catherine Enright to hear how a recent competency evaluation would affect the progress of the case.

Senior Judge Debra Heise presided over the hearing, which lasted about six minutes.

“The statute is pretty clear what should happen,” she said, adding that the evaluation showed Meyer’s ability to understand the proceedings or take part in her own defense is “significantly impaired.”

Meyer is being held on a $1 million bond at the Bonner County Jail, accused of first-degree arson in the July 4 fire that destroyed the Army Surplus 1 store on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Oak Street.

The booking photo of Jennifer S. Meyer. Photo courtesy BCSO.

If convicted, she could face up to 25 years in jail, fines of up to $100,000 or both.

Based on the findings of the competency evaluation, Meyer will be transferred to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare for 90 days. Depending on periodic progress reports during that time, she could be held for a further 180 days.

How the case proceeds will be determined by the outcome of the period of commitment with Health and Welfare.

“She will likely be taken to a state facility where they will administer treatment and therapy to assist in stabilizing her and determining if she can be restored to competency,” Bonner County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Katie Sherritt told the Reader in an email. “She is not deemed dangerously mentally ill — which would have meant she would go through a different process for restoration.”

Idaho Code 18-210 stipulates that, “No person who as a result of mental disease or defect lacks capacity to understand the proceedings against him or to assist in his own defense shall be tried, convicted, sentenced or punished for the commission of an offense so long as such incapacity endures.”

“She does lack capacity,” Heise said, in part.

According to I.C. 18-212, if a defendant is found to be “dangerously mentally ill,” they are instead committed to the Department of Correction for up to 90 days. 

Idaho Code defines “dangerously mentally ill” individuals as those who are found by a court “to be in such mental condition that they are in need of supervision, evaluation, treatment and care; to present a substantial risk of physical harm to other persons as manifested by evidence of homicidal or other violent behavior or evidence that others are placed in reasonable fear of violent behavior and serious physical harm to them; and to be dangerous to such a degree that a maximum security treatment setting is required.”

Meyer entered the courtroom on Aug. 21 cuffed and in jail garb, proceeding to the defense table with her head bowed. 

In her first hearing before Magistrate Judge Luke Hagelberg on July 17, Meyer refused to appear on the video feed from the jail. After being brought to the courtroom, Meyer became uncommunicative — placing her head on the defense table and remaining silent and motionless as Hagelberg proceeded with reading the charges, maximum penalties and setting the bond.

She remained upright in her seat throughout the Aug. 21 hearing.

The fire that Meyer is suspected of setting started around 10 p.m. on July 4 — just as the annual Independence Day fireworks display was concluding at City Beach. 

According to the affidavit in support of issuing a search warrant, which the Reader obtained in a public records request, surveillance footage taken from security cameras in the vicinity of Army Surplus showed the fireworks display still proceeding at 10:08 p.m. — the same time an individual could be seen walking down the alley toward the south wall of the building. At 10:10 p.m., “a glow appears at the location where the individual is observed approaching the wall,” the affidavit stated. “The individual is then observed stepping back from the glow as it grows larger. The individual then walks east down the alley to the west side of Fifth Ave. before turning south.”

As the blaze grew, large groups of people were making their way through the area following the fireworks display, making for a scene containing hundreds of onlookers.

Meanwhile, about $500,000 of merchandise went up in flames — including an unknown but large amount of ammunition, which exploded intermittently inside the building as firefighters doused the structure with water. Additionally, the fire destroyed a large amount of personal property belonging to owner Cornel Rasor and his family, which was stored in the building.

Sandpoint police combed through hours of surveillance footage from the area around Army Surplus and throughout downtown. They ultimately identified Meyer in a number of locations — and apparently wearing different clothing at different times — both before and during the start of the fire. 

Police arrested Meyer on July 16 following an interview in which she “was caught lying about her statements regarding her routes and clothing attire during the time in question,” the affidavit stated. 

“As we informed her of the route she walked, she would not speak and when asked questions, her only response was that she could not answer that and never denied starting the fire at the Army Surplus,” according to the affidavit. “When Meyer stated she was done talking, she was told she was being placed under arrest for arson and transported to the Bonner County Jail.”

The subsequent search of Meyer’s residence — which was not far from Army Surplus — turned up a bag located near the door containing about $1,000, a 9 millimeter handgun and ammunition, $1,200 in silver, vehicle titles, passport, birth certificate and college transcript, among other personal documents.

Based on those items, the court determined there were “great concerns with regard to flight,” resulting in the $1 million bond.

Both Enright and Bonner County Prosecuting Attorney Louis Marshall, who represented the state, agreed Aug. 21 not to set the case for another hearing until further treatment and evaluation of Meyer’s competency is completed.