Convicted killer sentenced on weapons charge

COEUR d’ALENE — A North Idaho man convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Bonner County was sentenced Monday to 10 months in prison for illegally possessing a firearm.

George Jonathan Bondurant, 35, of Bonners Ferry, will have to serve three years of supervised release after he’s released from a federal lockup, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced on Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge also ordered Bondurant to forfeit the firearm he illegally possessed and to perform 120 hours of community service.

Bondurant was barred from possessing a firearm due to his felony conviction in a 1999 involuntary manslaughter case. Bondurant was accused of shooting his 34-year-old girlfriend to death at his parents’ home on Shingle Mill Road.

Bondurant contended Kathryn Jean Oliver committed suicide, although forensic evidence indicated she could not have shot herself. Bondurant was charged with first-degree murder, although it was subsequently reduced to involuntary manslaughter through a plea agreement.

Judge James Michaud sentenced Bondurant to a fixed 10-year prison term, the strongest sentence available to the court.

Bondurant was charged in federal court with unlawfully possessing a 20-gauge Remington shotgun in May. He pleaded guilty in September, federal prosecutors said.

The case was investigated by the North Idaho Violent Crimes Task Force, which is a Federal Bureau of Investigation-sponsored Safe Streets Task Force comprised of North Idaho law-enforcement agencies, including the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office.

The task force also participates with the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, and coordinates as needed with the Joint Terrorism Task Force U.S. Border Patrol, and U.S. Forest Service.

The NIVCTF investigates a myriad of violent crimes, including armed robbery, kidnapping, felonious assault and drug trafficking. The case was prosecuted as part of Idaho’s Project Safe Neighborhoods Program, which seeks to reduce gun violence in Idaho.