Probation & Parole: Affidavit of Blaine Holman

LATAH COUNTY PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE
WILLIAM W. THOMPSON, JR.
PROSECUTING ATTORNEY

Latah County Courthouse
P.O. Box 8068
Moscow, Idaho 83843-0568
Phone: (208) 883-2246
ISB No. 2613

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE SECOND JUDICIAL DISTRICT OF THE
STATE OF IDAHO, IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF LATAH

STATE OF IDAHO,
Plaintiff
V.
STEVEN JAMES SITLER,
Defendant.

Case No. CR-2005-02027

AFFIDAVIT OF BLAINE HOLMAN
IN RESPONSE TO “DEFENSE MEMORANDUM”

I, Blaine Holman, declare and say:

  1. I am employed as a Probation and Parole Officer by the Idaho Department of Correction, and am currently the supervising officer of Steven Sitler, the above-named defendant.
  2. I have been provided with a copy of the defendant’s “Defense Memorandum” filed herein on July 30, 2015, and am submitting this affidavit in response to some of the factual representations proffered by Mr. Sitler’s counsel in that document.
  3. Beginning at the bottom of page 5 and continuing onto the top of page 6 of the “Defense Memorandum” where it is represented that I agreed that Mr. Sitler “could be a normal dad now,” I have no recollection of any such conversation, and certainly that I did not concur or agree that Mr. Sitler would be able to assume what would be considered a “normal” father-child relationship.
  4. As to treatment staffing (referred to by the defense at page 11 of the “Defense Memorandum”), treatment staffings were all done with Valley Treatment Specialties who I understood to be providing Mr. Sitler’s sex offender treatment. To the extent that the Court wishes for the Department to include Dr. Wilson, we will attempt to do so.
  5. As to the allegations beginning at the middle of page 11 of the “Defense Memorandum” regarding Mr. Sitler’s computers, the alleged damage was never reported to me. I will note that Mr. Sitler placed his computer in the bed of his truck when he retrieved it from Probation.
  6. As to the amount of time it took to complete a proper analysis of the defendant’s computer in December, 2014, I can advise the Court that the computers were initially delivered to Moscow Police Detective Bill Shields to perform the analysis. Unfortunately, Moscow experienced a triple homicide at the first part of January and Detective Shields was unable to complete his work on the computers in a timely fashion. Additionally, it was discovered after Detective Shields’ initial analysis that he (Detective Shields) had made mistakes in the analysis which had led us to conclude there was child pornography on Mr. Sitler’s computer when in fact, after a more comprehensive evaluation by another computer forensic person, turned out to be untrue. The Department strives to minimize inconvenience to those under our supervision; however, that must be balanced with the need to insure that the offenders (such as Mr. Sitler) are fully compliant with the terms of their supervision. In Mr. Sitler’s case, as with all sex offenders, their access to and use of computers is strictly constrained and typically limited to direct school and employment purposes.
  7. Regardless, the defendant’s request that the Court limit the period of time for prospective examination of computers and other similar devices to one week is not reasonable. At this point in time, there is only one computer forensic person available within the entire Second Judicial District, and he works for the Lewiston Police Department. Aside from that, recourse will have to be made to computer forensics experts in Southern Idaho if future examination of Mr. Sitler’s computers becomes necessary.

I declare under penalty of perjury pursuant to the law the State of Idaho that the foregoing is true and correct.
Dated this 24 day of August, 2015.

Blaine Holman
Sr. Probation/Parole Officer

CERTIFICATE OF DELIVERY

I hereby certify that a true and correct copy of the foregoing Affidavit of Blaine Holman in Response to “Defense Memorandum” was

__________ mailed, United States mail, postage prepaid
__________ hand delivered
__________ sent by facsimile, original by mail

to the following:

Dean Wullenwaber
Wullenwaber Law Firm
P.O. Box 452
Lewiston, ID 83501

and

Mark Monson
Mosman Law Office
P.O. Box 8456
Moscow, ID 83843

Dated this 24th day of August, 2015.