Shooting case dismissed

SANDPOINT — A criminal charge has been dismissed against a Bonner County man accused of firing in the direction of a family as they walked along a road in Samuels.

William J. Juettner was charged with discharging a firearm at another without causing injury, a misdemeanor, in connection with the Thanksgiving Day incident.

One of the alleged victims told sheriff’s deputies that Juettner opened fire on him as he was walking on a public easement with his family.Juettner, 75, told deputies he was confronted by a trespasser whom he did not recognize on Fox Glen Road and admitted firing into the darkness with a .38-caliber pistol, court records indicate.

Bonner County Deputy Prosecutor Katie Murdock said an evaluation revealed the defendant had mental issues that, when presented at trial, would likely negated the criminal intent element that the state would have to prove.

“The state negotiated with the defendant and he agreed to dispossess himself of or sell all of the firearms that the sheriff office seized during the incident in exchange for the dismissal. I believe this was the best result we could achieve with my main goal being safety for the community,” Murdock said in an email to the Daily Bee.

Juettner has no prior criminal history the state of Idaho, according to the state supreme court data repository.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by phone at 208-263-9534, by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.