10/23/09

SANDPOINT, Idaho (AP) _ The Idaho Court of Appeals has rejected
a request for post-conviction relief made by a man serving a life
sentence for killing a U.S. Forest Service law officer in northern
Idaho two decades ago.

The court ruled earlier this month that it had previously
rejected the same request by Joseph Earl Pratt and that Pratt was
trying to circumvent the appeal process by reasserting the same
issues.

Pratt is one of two brothers convicted of murdering U.S. Forest
Service officer Brent Jacobson in 1989.

Jacobson bled to death after being hit by a shotgun blast during
a shootout near Dover in the northern Idaho woods after police had
chased Pratt and his brother, James Kevin Pratt, after a failed
home robbery in Sagle.

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Information from: Bonner Daily Bee,
http://www.bonnercountydailybee.com

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APNP-10-23-09 1050MDT<