BOISE - Eighteen months after being beaten and thrown from her SUV, a Boise woman was expecting to gain a new sense of justice and closure and watch her attacker be sentenced Tuesday afternoon.
Instead, she’s feeling frustrated. Kenny McDonald pleaded guilty to robbery this past November and was set to be sentenced Tuesday, but was postponed until March 2nd.
Courtney Feider, the victim in this case, is sharing her story to help spread awareness about victim’s rights after she tells KTVB, she feels she received a life sentence for having to relive that day for the past 18 months.
“When you're in those extreme situations, you do whatever your body tells you to do, and mine was fight and survive,” Feider said.
It was a nice, sunny summer day in August of 2016 when Courtney Feider’s life would change forever.
“I definitely feared for my life on several occasions,” said Feider.
Feider had just pulled into her driveway that Friday afternoon when Kenny McDonald came walking up her car.
“He was totally bent on what he needed to do,” she said.
He was willing to do anything for it.
“He threatened my life with a gun. He pointed it at my chest and my head,” said Feider. “Pulled me aggressively out by my arm and threw me on the ground after he'd hit me with the gun.”
However, it’s the image of him leaving in her SUV that still haunts her 18 months later.
“I looked over his shoulder and saw my two car seats in the car. So that was really scary that they could have been there, they probably should have been, if I hadn't made prior arrangements,” said Feider.
McDonald was eventually caught nearly a week later in Caldwell after a standoff with Canyon County sheriff’s deputies.
“When they ultimately found him in Caldwell that was more disturbing because he stayed close,” said Feider.
After a year-and-a-half of court proceedings, Feider was hoping to find justice as McDonald was set to be sentenced Tuesday afternoon after pleading guilty to a robbery charge in November.
“We're putting our lives on hold and we're suffering from things like PTSD and retraumatization of all of this stuff by going to see these people in court,” she said.
It’s a sentence that’s going to wait until March 2nd after McDonald and his defense had questions regarding the pre-sentence investigation.
“This is kind of a life sentence for me too,” said Feider.
The Idaho Public Defense Commission can’t specifically comment about this case, but says depending on the charges sometimes court proceedings can take this long.
“You've got an attorney who's looking at this guy going ‘alright you could go to prison for life, let's make sure that we cross our T's and dot our I's.’ All your rights are protected and so that just takes time. We want to be diligent about that,” Kimberly Simmons, executive director of the Idaho Public Defense Commission said.
Simmons says its important everything is done right the first time because, if not, it can be dragged out even longer.
“If there are mistakes made at the trial level whether it be the attorney, the court, the state you can have an appeal and that can drag a case, that could have only taken 18 months, out for many, many years,” Simmons said.
The prosecutor in this case, Kendal McDevitt, tells KTVB each case has its own life span, but added this case dealt with availability issues, DNA testing, and the defense needing more time.
In the meantime, it’s just a matter of weeks until Feider will learn the fate of her attacker.
“You can't have my life, that's what I would have said that day and that's what I said today,” said Feider.