Murder suspect is bound over

SANDPOINT — A preliminary hearing in the case against a Bonner County man accused of shooting his son to death during an alcohol-fueled argument in Cocolalla boiled down to degrees on Wednesday.

James Michael Costello Sr. was charged with first-degree murder in the shooting of James Michael Costello Sr. aboard the converted city bus that served as their home off Cocolalla Loop Road, but was bound over to stand trial on a reduced charge of murder in the second degree following the hearing, in which a judge determines if there’s sufficient evidence to warrant a trial in 1st District Court.

The younger Costello’s murder initially went undetected until the elder Costello was arrested for eluding law enforcement and driving under the influence in northern Kootenai County on Nov. 12, 2018. An injured senior Costello mentioned an altercation with his son to Idaho State Police, prompting them to request a welfare check by Bonner County sheriff’s deputies.

Tricia Clark, who allowed the duo to park in their driveway after they were evicted from a Geenan Road property and later Kootenai Health’s parking lot, testified that the Costellos were known to loudly quarrel verbally and had gotten into a fight the last night Costello Jr. was seen alive on Nov. 10.

Clark arrived home to find the elder Costello seated in a pickup truck arguing with and cursing at her husband while the younger Costello paced nearby. Clark noted that the younger Costello, who suggested he should kill himself and his father, seemed more agitated than he was in previous dust-ups with his father.

Costello Jr. later appeared calm as he sat outside smoking a cigarette. Sunday passed peacefully and Clark assumed they had left together in the pickup, which was their nearly daily custom. She grew concerned, however, when the truck didn’t reappear as Sunday rolled into Monday, the day the welfare check was conducted.

Clark recalled accompanying a deputy to a set of doors toward the rear of the bus.

“I opened the bus door and there’s Junior laying there,” Clark testified.

Photos of the largely bloodless crime scene showed the younger Clark laying on his back in the center aisle of the bus with no obvious outward signs of trauma, although it would soon be discovered that he suffered multiple gunshot wounds.

Detective Sgt. Phil Stella testified that the lack of blood was likely due to the fact that the first gunshot stopped the pumping action in his heart, cold temperatures inside the unheated bus and several layers of winter clothing the younger Costello was wearing.

Stella told the court that a surveillance camera on the bus was found unplugged from its monitor. However, detectives discovered approximately 20 minutes of verbal exchanges between the two shortly before 11 p.m. on Saturday night.

They included the younger Costello alternately threatening suicide and ordering his father to retrieve a pistol and shoot him with it. He also threatens his father’s life and warns he will kill him if he doesn’t shut up, Stella testified.

“Get in my face and I’ll kill you,” the elder Costello said in the final exchange.

The younger Costello profanely told him to get lost and called him an expletive.

Stella testified that the murder weapon, a .45-semiautomatic, was given to a Talache man who turned it over to authorities upon learning of the killing. An Idaho State Police lab analysis confirmed that casings found at the scene were matched to those found with the gun. An undistorted projectile found beneath Costello Jr.’s body was matched to the pistol through a Chiefftool markings analysis.

Benjamin Roll, who shared space with the elder Costello at the Kootenai County Jail’s medical unit, testified that Costello said his son had been physically abusing him and had battered him in the ankle with a metal bar from a piece of exercise equipment.

“He said that his son was being abusive,” Roll said.

Stella, however, testified that the elder Costello was adamant that his son never abused him when he was questioned.

Costello Sr., who sat in a wheelchair during the hearing, invoked his right to remain silent and did not testify.

Detective Aaron Walker testified that the defendant was spotted on a Ponderay storage unit surveillance camera after the killing. Walker said Costello appeared in the footage ambulatory and not in need of a walker or wheelchair. Walker also testified that Costello made no mention of being attacked or acting in self-defense.

The elder Costello’s medical records did not show an ankle injury, although his face and eyes were injured when he was arrested and pulled from a badly damaged pickup truck. Deputy Ted Swanstrom testified that Costello was suspected of crashing into a power pole at Sagle and Lignite roads, not long before his vehicle became the subject of numerous reckless driving complaints on U.S. 95 that ultimately led to his arrest.

Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall argued that the disabling of the surveillance camera, ridding himself of the murder weapon and failing to summon help for his son supported allegations of premeditation.

“There really is no evidence of this mysterious metal bar,” Marshall added.

Chief Public Defender Susie Jensen called the first-degree murder charge an “overreach” and said there was insufficient evidence there was premeditation in the killing.

“Mr. Costello obviously did have injuries,” Jensen added.

Judge Justin Julian ruled that first-degree charges typically involve coldblooded, deliberate calculatedness, while Costello’s conduct appeared to be rash and impulsive.

“It feels more like murder two in this case,” said Julian, who called the case “tragic.”

Costello, who remains in custody, is scheduled to be arraigned on the second-degree murder charge on July 15.

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