NorthwestMarch 24, 2012

Associated Press

Associated Press

BOISE - Ada County prosecutors are again seeking the death penalty against convicted murderer Lacey Mark Sivak.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Sivak's death sentence last fall after finding the state allowed a jailhouse informant to lie on the witness stand during Sivak's 1981 trial.

Ada County Prosecutor Greg Bower told the Idaho Statesman rather than seek a life sentence, he's decided to ask a jury to sentence Sivak to death for the 30-year-old murder of Dixie Wilson.

According to court records, Wilson, a 30-year-old mother of three children, was working at the Baird Oil gas station in Garden City when she was killed April 6, 1981. She was shot at least five times in the head and face and stabbed about 20 times in the head, neck and shoulder, and she was also molested by her assailants.

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At the trial, prosecutors said Sivak and fellow defendant Randall Bainbridge committed the murder - Sivak because he believed she had gotten him fired from the gas station, and Bainbridge because he was sexually motivated. Roughly $385 was missing from the gas station's cash drawer and safe, and Sivak was charged with robbery as well.

The two men were tried separately, and in Sivak's trial, prosecutors used a sworn statement from Bainbridge and testimony from two jailhouse informants to help convince the jury of Sivak's guilt.

The appellate court found while Sivak's conviction was appropriate, the outcome of his sentencing hearing might have been different if prosecutors hadn't presented testimony from one inmate who perjured himself and another who admitted he was a habitual liar.

Sivak, now 52, is represented in the resentencing by Rob Chastain and Deb Krystal of Boise, who both have considerable experience handling murder cases as court-appointed attorneys. The resentencing hearing is scheduled to begin Feb. 4, 2013.

Sivak's co-defendant, Randall Bainbridge, is serving a life sentence for Wilson's killing.

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