SANDPOINT - A North Idaho man implicated in a home invasion robbery attempt is moving to act as his own legal counsel.

Randy Carl Eiland filed a motion on Feb. 20 to proceed pro se and asked for the appointment of standby counsel, court records show. Eiland also moved to be transferred to a facility with an up-to-date law library and other accommodations necessary to prepare his defense.

Prosecutor Louis Marshall and Chief Deputy Prosecutor Shane Greenbank jointly filed an objection to the motion. They contend it should be denied because Eiland filed it without notifying his appointed counsel, Chief Deputy Public Defender Dan Taylor.

A hearing on the matter is set for today in 1st District Court.

Eiland, 51, is charged with battery with intent to commit robbery, aggravated battery and burglary in connection with the home invasion last October. He pleaded not guilty to the felony offenses and is being held in lieu of $500,000 bail while awaiting trial.

Eiland is accused of smashing through the door of a home on the city's west side and accosting a man with bear deterrent spray. The man, his wife and their adult child took refuge in a room and Eiland fled the scene.

Eiland was found a quarter-mile away from the home and appeared to suffering from the effects of exposure to the pepper spray, according to a Sandpoint Police report.

Eiland denies being involved in the broad-daylight break-in and contends he was on a Selkirks-Pend Oreille Transit bus on the other side of town when the incident took place, according to court documents. The state filed an objection to Eiland's notice of an alibi defense because it didn't identify any witnesses who would testify to Eiland's whereabouts.

Eiland's four-day jury trial is set to start next month.

The state is prosecuting Eiland as a persistent violator due to prior felony convictions, including a murder conviction for shooting a movie theater manager to death during a failed robbery attempt in Washington in 1985.