08/30/2008

Associated Press

The Idaho Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by a woman who wanted to overturn her conviction for taking part in a brutal attack on a Washington state woman eight years ago in southwest Idaho.

The court rejected Sarah Pearce's appeal in a 4-1 decision.

The high court ruled Thursday that a 3rd District Court trial judge did not err when Pearce's expert witness was not allowed to testify about problems with eyewitness identification.

Linda LeBrane, of Port Townsend, Wash., was driving alone through Canyon County on Interstate 84 when she was forced off the highway by three men and a woman. Investigators said the group took LeBrane to a beet field off a rural road, hit her with a bat, stabbed her and slashed her multiple times. The group then set her car on fire. LeBrane spent months recovering.

Pearce, who was sentenced to at least 15 years in prison, was convicted of aiding and abetting attempted murder and related charges.

Pearce contends LeBrane could not correctly identify her.

LeBrane, 60, maintains she identified the correct people.

In May 2007, the Idaho Court of Appeal found the judge erred in not allowing Pearce's expert to testify, but that any error was harmless.

Justice Warren Jones dissented in the high court's decision, saying that the case should be returned to District Court for a possible new trial.

He said 3rd District Judge Juneal Kerrick erred when she ruled the defense's expert witness wasn't qualified to testify, and that the decision probably helped lead to Pearce's conviction by denying her that method of refuting evidence put forward by the prosecution.

Along with Pearce, Jeremy Sanchez, and brothers John Wurdemann and Kenneth Wurdemann were convicted in the case. Sanchez, 32, was sentenced to four consecutive life terms plus 30 years; John Wurdemann, 37, was sentenced to four concurrent life sentences and an additional 55 years, and Kenneth Wurdemann, 39, got 10 to 13 years after he agreed to testify against the others.

LeBrane's ordeal was featured on the show "I Survived" in May on the Biography channel, a show about people who survived extreme situations, including kidnappings.

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Information from: Idaho Statesman, http://www.idahostatesman.com