Trial reset in shooting case

SANDPOINT — A Bonner County man’s trial on a firearms discharge violation is being rescheduled so he can obtain a mental health evaluation, court records show.

William Joseph Juettner was scheduled to stand trial this month in Bonner County Magistrate Court, but the proceedings have been shifted to May so Juettner can undergo the evaluation, court records show.

Juettner, 75, is charged with discharging a firearm toward another without causing harm, a misdemeanor. The offense dates back to Thanksgiving Day, when a man told sheriff’s deputies that Juettner fired on them with a revolver as he walked with his family along a public easement road in Samuels. A man walking with the family told investigators that he saw Juettner emerge from his home with the gun and could hear the revolver’s hammer striking an empty chamber before two gunshots rang out, according to a probable cause affidavit.

The incident happened in the 300 block of Fox Glen Road, court records indicate.

Juettner told deputies that he was a confronted by a trespasser who knew him but whom Juettner did not. Jeuttner admitted that he fired into the darkness with a .38-caliber pistol out of anger, according to the affidavit.

Juettner, who has no prior criminal record in the state of Idaho, pleaded not guilty to the offense, which is punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine, according to Idaho Code. His trial is now set for May 17.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.