Silva found guilty of rape

WALLACE — The jury barely needed an hour to reach its unanimous guilty verdict in the trial of Logan Silva just before noon on Wednesday morning.

Silva, 24, the defendant, was charged by the Shoshone County Prosecuting Attorney back in December 2020 with forcible rape, but due to the enormous backlog of criminal matters in Shoshone, it took more than a year and a half for Prosecutor Ben Allen to have his day in court to present the case before a jury.

Beginning on Tuesday, June 14, and originally scheduled for a three-day trial, Allen only needed roughly half of that time as he presented the state’s entire case against Silva on the first day.

Once both sides had rested on Wednesday morning, the jury of Silva’s peers returned the guilty verdict.

Silva’s charges stem from an investigation by the Kellogg Police Department based on a report of sexual assault that came into dispatch immediately after the incident.

KPD officer Jake Johnson responded to the home of the reporting party, where the investigation began around 1 a.m. on Dec. 9, 2020.

DNA evidence was secured following an immediate sexual assault examination which led to a search warrant being obtained for DNA evidence from the defendant.

The Idaho State Police Forensics Laboratory compared the DNA samples submitted and provided confirmation of test results which corroborated the victim’s statements to police.

According to testimony, when confronted by law enforcement and questioned about the incident, Silva claimed he knew nothing about the sexual assault and refused to provide his version of the events, citing intoxication and not fully cooperating with the investigation.

During the trial the jurors heard from a number of witnesses including the bartender who had served Silva on the night of the incident, the registered nurse from Kootenai Health who performed the sexual assault examination, the forensic analyst who conducted the DNA testing on the case, and both the victim and defendant themselves.

During his closing argument, Shoshone County Prosecuting Attorney Benjamin Allen noted to the jury the difficulty in grasping exactly what goes through the mind of a 20-year-old female as they are being forcefully violated.

Allen explained the state of shock which often causes victims of sexual assaults to freeze up during the act as they realize that their initial resistance has been overcome by force and further resistance would be futile. After the close of testimony, the matter was submitted to the jury with instructions on Idaho’s laws, and only a brief deliberation was needed before deciding that the state had met its burden of proof in the case.

Following the verdict, District Judge Ronald Wilper took up the issue of bail. After brief argument on this issue by both attorneys, Wilper sided with Allen’s request to have the defendant taken into custody, citing that a defendant is no longer entitled to bail under the rules of criminal procedure after they have been found guilty.

Wilper was filling in for Judge Barbara Duggan, who had a backlog of cases in nearby Benewah County.

The defendant will now wait in custody at the Shoshone County Jail until his sentencing date in October, which will allow sufficient time for a presentence investigation to be conducted by the Idaho Dept. of Corrections and a psychosexual evaluation to be performed on the defendant, both reports which will be utilized by the court at the time of sentencing.

Silva faces up to life in prison for his charges.