COEUR d’ALENE — A married couple and their adult son, who are all accused of illegally killing four mountain lions and eight bobcats across three counties in North Idaho, are expected to stand trial together next month.

In August, a Kootenai County grand jury indicted St. Maries residents Eddy A. Dills, Daniel D. Dills and Angela Y. Dills on charges of conspiracy to commit unlawful killing of wildlife, conspiracy to sell unlawfully killed wildlife and conspiracy to conceal evidence, all felonies.  

In court Thursday, defense counsel requested that the cases be tried separately, arguing that jurors would be confused by the large volume of evidence and multiple defendants and that Angela Dills might be wrongly convicted because of her association with her husband and son, who have previous convictions for illegal hunting. 

First District Judge John Cafferty denied three separate motions to sever the charges. 

“The court does not find the evidence is so prejudicial and overlapping that it will confuse the jury,” he said. 

A four-day jury trial in the case is to begin Feb. 17. 

The crimes are alleged to have occurred between May 2024 and February 2025, spanning Kootenai, Shoshone, Benewah and Latah counties, according to court records. 

The hunting licenses of Eddy Dills, 65, and Daniel Dills, 22, were revoked during that period, when prosecutors said they used hunting dogs to tree a mountain lion near Cemetery Ridge, south of Wallace, and to hunt another mountain lion near Leiberg Creek. The father and son also allegedly used dogs to hunt near bobcat traps and near the Coeur d’Alene River. 

Prosecutors said Angela Dills, 64, accompanied her husband and son while hound hunting on several occasions and completed mortality and harvest reports for bobcats and mountain lions. 

Deborah Belley, defense counsel for Angela Dills, said her client killed the bobcats herself and completed the reports in accordance with the law. 

“Our assertion is that she hunted legally,” Belley said in court Thursday. “She did everything right.”  

Prosecuting attorney Monica Bushling called the argument a “red herring.” She contended that Angela Dills did not kill any animals herself but made it appear as if she did. 

“Mrs. Dills — was complicit in a larger conspiracy to hunt illegally,” she said. 

Eddy and Daniel Dills allegedly dumped a mountain lion down an embankment after it had been unlawfully shot and killed, according to court records, in an effort to conceal an illegal kill. 

Prosecutors said Angela Dills sold the carcasses and hides of mountain lions and bobcats that her husband and son had illegally killed to Moscow Hide and Fur in Moscow. The carcasses and hides sold for a total of $1,725, according to court records. 

Craig Zanetti, a defense attorney representing Daniel Dills, indicated that he expects the state to offer evidence and testimony about comments the co-defendants allegedly made to others. 

“Those individuals listened to statements from the co-defendants in this case and immediately notified law enforcement,” Zanetti said. “There was even a recording made by one of them. ... They testified that the purpose of doing this was so they could contact law enforcement, contact Fish and Game.” 

In 2024, Daniel Dills pleaded guilty to knowingly selling, purchasing or exchanging unlawfully killed wildlife, a felony, in Latah County, according to court records. His hunting license was suspended for three years. 

The Columbian reported in 2019 that Eddy Dills received a 60-day jail sentence after pleading guilty under an Alford plea to hunting a cougar with a dog in Cowlitz County, Wash. This practice is illegal in that state. 

    Eddy Dills, Daniel Dills and Angela Dills are expected to stand trial next month related to the killings of bobcats and mountain lions in North Idaho.