SANDPOINT - A man implicated in the shooting death of a Priest Lake man testified Tuesday that he was goaded into confessing by a detective.

Keith Brown told the court that his confession came after being advised that his former wife told investigators that she confessed to shooting Leslie Carlton Breaw to avenge being raped by him.

The confessions were made in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., where the former couple were arrested in 2007. They were questioned separately at the Lee County Sheriff's Office.

Brown said he confessed to protect his then-wife and a detective pressured him to say that he shot Breaw in the heat of the moment upon learning of the alleged sexual assault.

"I did exactly what he wanted me to do," Brown testified.

Brown added that the confession came after spending a day and a half "freezing" in a holding cell at the sheriff's office.

But Lee County sheriff's Lt. John Long denied there was any coercion and said he simply asked Brown to explain if Breaw's shooting was a crime of passion upon learning of his wife's alleged rape.

Long, who testified in Keith Brown's evidentiary and suppression hearing via video conference, admitted that he did not consider Tyrah Brown's confession to be truthful.

"I wasn't believing her story because she couldn't tell me exactly where she dumped the weapons," Long testified, referring to the .22-caliber rifles that were used in the killing.

Breaw's body was discovered in a brush pile in Coolin and the Browns were tracked to Fort Myers Beach. They were both charged with first-degree murder and grand theft by possession of a $56,000 escrow check that belonged to Breaw.

Tyrah Brown pleaded guilty to being an accessory to second-degree murder and grand theft by possession. She served a custodial sentence and went on to divorce Brown.

Keith Brown, 54, entered Alford pleas to voluntary manslaughter and accessory to grand theft and is serving a 15-year prison term. Under those pleas, he admitted no wrongdoing but conceded the state had enough evidence to gain a conviction.

Brown sought to suppress his confession in 1st District Court, but the motion was denied. The Idaho Court of Appeals, however, ruled last year that the motion should have been granted because the state did not demonstrate that the confession was voluntary.

The case was remanded to district court for further proceedings on that issue.

If Keith Brown prevails on the revived motion to suppress, his convictions could be set aside.

Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall and public defender Dan Sheckler are slated to outline respective arguments in briefings to Judge Fred Gibler, who is expected to take the matter under advisement and issue a written ruling.