Funkhouser guilty in Old's death
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| John August Funkhouser |
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.