Appeals court affirms murder conviction

BOISE — The Idaho Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction of Eric Loren Benzo, 49, for a 2021 murder in Oldtown, Idaho, on Nov. 1.

Benzo was convicted of first-degree murder for the Oct. 12, 2021, shooting death of Don Bush.

The Daily Bee reported that a witness, Rebecca Ahlers, positively identified Benzo as the shooter. According to reporting at the time, Ahlers had been in a romantic relationship with Benzo years prior but was romantically involved with Bush at the time of the killing.

In Ahlers’ testimony, as cited in the appellate court’s opinion, she claimed Benzo confronted Bush and her outside of Ahlers’ home on the morning of Oct. 12 wearing a mask and possessing a firearm. During the incident Benzo allegedly told Ahlers — who was standing between Benzo and Bush — to “get the [expletive] out of the way or he was going to shoot” her, too. He then allegedly shot Bush in the back which knocked Bush to the ground where Benzo shot him again.

According to the appellate court’s unpublished opinion, Benzo argued in his appeal that the district court abused its discretion by overruling his objection to the admission of several photos showing text messages Ahlers received before Bush’s death. Text messages she testified were from Benzo.

Benzo claimed the phone numbers the messages came from were not linked to him and that the state did not properly authenticate the photos of the text messages, according to the appellate court’s opinion. He further claimed that even if the erroneous admission of any one of the text message exhibits was harmless, the cumulative effect of erroneously admitting several text message exhibits could indicate the absence of a fair trial.

The appellate court ruled that the state did provide sufficient evidence that the messages were from Benzo and did not err in admitting photos of the messages as exhibits.

Benzo also claimed in his appeal that the district court erred in its determination that Ahlers was a victim and that allowing her to give a victim impact statement at his sentencing hearing was an abuse of the court’s discretion.

The appellate court determined in its opinion that the district court did err in allowing Ahlers to make a statement as a victim because she did not fit the statutory definition of a victim. To be considered a victim, she would have needed to be a direct family member of Bush. Alternatively, Ahlers could have qualified as a victim if Benzo had been charged for a crime committed against her.

The appellate court determined in its opinion that this error was harmless because, "The evidence presented at trial and the materials reviewed by the district court warranting the sentence Benzo received were strong and compelling,” and affirmed Benzo’s judgment of conviction and sentence for first degree murder.