COEUR d’ALENE — A Kootenai County judge has declined to set aside a jury’s decision to convict a St. Maries woman of conspiring to hide evidence of illegal hunting alongside her husband and son.

After a weeklong trial in June, a jury convicted married couple Angela and Eddy Dills and their adult son, Daniel Dills, of conspiracy to conceal evidence, a felony. 

Jurors acquitted the family of charges of conspiracy to commit unlawful killing of wildlife and conspiracy to sell unlawfully killed wildlife. 

Deborah Belley, defense counsel for Angela Dills, argued in court Tuesday that prosecutors didn’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt that her client knowingly agreed to conceal evidence. She asked the court to acquit Angela Dills of the charge. 

First District Judge John Cafferty denied the defense’s motion. The burden, he said, was on defense counsel to show that there was no substantial evidence presented at trial from which jurors could find the central elements of the offense. 

“It’s not necessary to prove that Ms. Dills did an overt act but that one of her co-conspirators did complete the overt act,” he said. 

The conviction stemmed from an incident prosecutors said occurred Feb. 1, 2025, when another hunting party encountered the Dillses near the Little North Fork Coeur d’Alene River. 

Two-thirds of the family were without hunting privileges at that time. Daniel Dills had his hunting license revoked for three years beginning in 2024, while Eddy Dills lost his privileges for life in 2019. 

The state argued that Angela Dills, who had hunting privileges, provided cover for her husband and son, taking credit for the mountain lions and bobcats they killed illegally throughout North Idaho. 

In a recorded conversation with another hunter Feb. 1, Eddy Dills said his party had killed a mountain lion and planned to go back for it. Another hunter photographed blood dripping from the back of Eddy Dills’ truck. 

A Fish and Game investigator testified about how he followed blood, footprints and dog tracks from the place where the lion was found to where he believed it was killed. He found three sets of footprints at the kill site, including bloody boot prints that matched the size and tread of boots later found in Daniel Dills’ home. 

Prosecutors alleged that the family dragged the lion to another location and dumped it to avoid detection after their encounter with the other hunting party. 

Cafferty outlined the evidence presented at trial before making his ruling. 

“We have a dead mountain lion,” he said. “We have a person who just came upon (the Dills family). Clearly, they have an agreement that they’ve got to do something with the mountain lion because they’re about to be discovered.” 

The Dillses are scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 31. Conspiracy to conceal evidence carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.  

Anyone who observes or has information about a wildlife crime can call the Citizens Against Poaching hotline at 1-800-632-5999 or submit a report online at idfg.idaho.gov/enforcement/tipline.  

Information about potential wildlife crimes can also be reported to the Panhandle Regional Office at 208-769-1414.