Judge rejects shooter's request

A Flathead County District Court judge has rejected a Creston man's attempt to back out of a plea agreement convicting him of his girlfriend's murder.

Robert Dean Kowalski, 47, will be sentenced as scheduled on March 12 for the shooting death of 45-year-old Lorraine Kay Morin.

During two court appearances last week, Kowalski testified that his attorneys, public defenders Vicki L. Frazier and Gregory N. Hood, "rushed" him into the deal and "coached" him on what to say during his change-of-plea hearing.

But Flathead County District Court Judge Katherine R. Curtis found Tuesday that his claims were "not credible."

"There was no evidence that the time restriction on the State's plea offer resulted in an involuntary plea by the Defendant," Curtis wrote. "The Court finds incredible the Defendant's claim that his testimony at the change of plea hearing was not truthful because he was 'coached' by Mr. Hood and Ms. Frazier to simply 'agree with everything' and, by implication, lie to the Court."

Kowalski, who prosecutors say shot Morin in the mouth from a distance of only 12 inches before initiating a 31-hour standoff in March 2008 at his Montana 35 home, pleaded guilty by way of Alford plea to mitigated deliberate homicide on Jan. 12.

In the plea deal, prosecutors agreed to dismiss deliberate homicide charges and recommend Kowalski receive 50 years in Montana State Prison, with 10 years suspended and no restrictions on his parole.

The agreement still includes terms permitting Kowalski to withdraw his guilty plea and proceed to trial should Curtis impose a stiffer penalty than that agreed upon with prosecutors.

"I think there's no question he entered his plea voluntarily, and I think Judge Curtis felt the same way we did in that regard," Deputy Flathead County Attorney Alison E. Howard said.

Curtis also rejected Kowalski's claims that he was under undue emotional distress over the death of a friend when the plea was accepted and that Hood told him he could withdraw his guilty plea at any time prior to sentencing.

"It is clear that, other than the plea agreement, there were no threats or promises; misrepresentations, including unfulfilled or unfulfillable promises; or promises having no proper relationship to the prosecutor's business by the Court, the prosecutor, or the Defendant's own counsel," Curtis wrote.

After a break so attorneys could determine which of the conversations Kowalski had with his attorneys could be repeated without violating attorney-client privilege, Frazier and Hood testified that at no time did they coerce or mislead their client.

Hood said he did not tell Kowalski that he could back out of the deal once a plea had been entered or that the deal was struck with the expectation that Kowalski would have that option.

Extensive similarities between Morin's murder and Kowalski's shooting of another woman at an Alaska lodge in 1996 have prompted cold-case prosecutors in Alaska to review their case against him.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com