Jury awards $600,000 in N. Idaho triple-fatal boat crash

An eastern Washington man found not guilty of three counts of involuntary manslaughter in a criminal trial following a boating crash on Lake Coeur d’Alene in northern Idaho has been ordered to pay $600,000 in a civil case.

A jury on Monday determined Dennis Magner of Spokane, Washington, is 30 percent responsible for the crash.

The July 2016 nighttime collision killed 34-year-old Justin Luhr of Medical Lake, Washington, 21-year-old Justin Honken of Post Falls, Idaho, and 21-year-old Caitlin Breeze of Spokane.

The jury awarded $300,000 to Breeze’s family, and $150,000 each to the parents of Honken.

The jury determined Luhr was 70 percent responsible for the crash for allowing his boat to drift into a traffic lane without navigation lights.