SANDPOINT — Accounts clashed Friday about legal advice that was dispensed regarding a plea agreement intended to resolve criminal cases in the murder of Christopher Elliott West in 2005.

A Bonner County jury convicted Kenneth Eugene Thurlow of aiding and abetting West’s shotgun slaying and is serving a life sentence without possibility of parole. Christopher Alan Lewers pleaded guilty in connection with the killing and is serving life sentence with a chance at parole after serving 20 years.

Thurlow petitioned for post-conviction relief on grounds that he received ineffective assistance from counsel, in addition to other claims.

First District Judge Jeff Brudie denied the petition, but the Idaho Court Appeals ruled last fall that a genuine issue of material fact remained regarding the ineffective assistance of counsel claim.

The state offered in May 2006, as the cases were nearing trial, to reduce the first-degree murder charge to murder in the second degree in exchange for pleas of guilt. The pact recommended fixed, 10-year prison terms and required the participation of both defendants. The offer was only valid for two weeks because of the oncoming trials.

Both Thurlow and Lewers passed on the offer, but Thurlow contends he was acting on the advice of Linda Payne, his former public defender. Thurlow alleges Payne advised him the most serious offense he could be convicted of at trial would be as an accessory to the crime, which carried a five-year sentence.

Thurlow has maintained for the past decade that Lewers fired the fatal shotgun blast.

“My contention all along was that Mr. Lewers did the shooting,” Thurlow said during a hearing on Friday to parse through the ineffective assistance claim.

Thurlow also presented a printout of the Idaho Code section defining an accessory bearing a handwritten note from Payne stating that she believed a jury “would/will” find him guilty of being an accessory to a criminal act.

Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall challenged Thurlow’s claims that his attorney told him he risked losing only five years of his personal liberty by introducing into evidence an phone recording of Thurlow speaking with his brother from the jail the day after he was convicted. In it, Thurlow can be heard acknowledging he turned down a 10-year plea offer. He also appears to indicate he was forewarned about the perils of going before a jury.

“My lawyer told me this might happen,” Ken Thurlow said in the phone call.

Marshall also pointed out that the Payne’s note was written several months after the plea agreement had expired.

Payne took the stand as a state’s witness and denied underselling the consequences of a conviction. She recalled telling Thurlow he could held just as culpable for West’s killing even if he did not actually pull the trigger. Payne also urged Thurlow to take the deal.

“This was a decent offer and we should try to take it,” Payne recalled telling Thurlow.

Payne said Thurlow insisted on going to trial so he could take the stand and refute allegations that he shot Lewers.

Chief Public Defender Janet Whitney, who represented Thurlow during the hearing, pressed Payne on the note stating Thurlow would be convicted of being an accessory. Payne said the note referred to a lesser included offense the defense sought as a jury instruction.

First District Judge Barbara Buchanan said she would issue a ruling 30 days after Whitney and Marshall submit their written arguments.