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Funkhouser guilty in Old's death
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September 1, 2012 |
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John August
Funkhouser |
John August Funkhouser, 62, remains in jail
after a Boundary County jury found him guilty
Thursday of second degree murder for causing the
death of
Anna Old, 43, who died of a single gunshot
wound to the back of the head in late October or
early November, 2011, in the home they shared in
Moravia.
The conviction came just hours after attorneys
Boundary County Deputy Prosecutor Tevis Hull,
representing the state, and Linda Payne,
representing the defendant, made their closing
arguments after a trial that lasted four days.
A sentencing hearing is pending; with the
verdict, under Idaho sentencing standards,
Funkhouser will serve a minimum of 10 years in
prison and up to a maximum of life.
He was formally charged with the crime on
Veteran's Day, Friday, November 11, 2011, after
having called the sheriff's dispatch center "to
report a murder." During the call, he told the
dispatcher that he'd "shot and killed Anna."
Deputies responding to the scene found Anna,
who'd apparently been dead for several days, in
a position consistent with Funkhouser's
statement. Funkhouser confessed the crime to
both the sheriff's investigator and later to an
Idaho State Police investigator, though in court
he entered a plea of not guilty.
During the trial, it came out that Funkhouser
and Old, the daughter of Ove Gunnarson, Bonners
Ferry, had developed a relationship after she
moved back to Bonners Ferry from her home in
Alaska following the death of her husband, Mel
Old, of cancer.
According to testimony, their relationship
wasn't close, and while they shared a home in
Moravia, they kept separate bedrooms. At the
time of the shooting, jurors heard, Old had
demanded that Funkhouser leave.
The defense portrayed the shooting as
accidental, with no evidence that her client
meant to kill Old, that, despondent over the
breakup and somewhat intoxicated, he'd put the
.380 caliber pistol to Old's head to get her
attention and the pistol accidentally went off.
The prosecution described Funkhouser's actions
as irrational and selfish, and the jury agreed
unanimously that the shooting was a deliberate
act without premeditation. |
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