19-Year-Old Gets Life For Killing Age May Have Saved Youth From Death Sentence

A Boundary County teenager was spared a death sentence, but will possibly spend his life in prison for luring a 15-year-old boy into the woods and shooting him.

A judge sentenced Wayne Thurman, 19, to life in prison Wednesday, ordering him to serve a minimum of 30 years. Boundary County prosecutors wanted Thurman put to death, saying he had shown no remorse and had an “utter disregard for human life.”

“The judge was in a difficult position. He clearly handed down some significant punishment, even though we obviously wanted more,” said Boundary County Deputy Prosecutor Todd Reed. Thurman’s age - he was 18 when he murdered Cedar Pfenning - likely spared him from the death penalty, Reed added.

“It was a tough case. I’m glad it’s over and I hope Cedar Pfenning’s family can get on with life now,” he said. “They will never be the same, but it will be nice to put this behind them.”

Thurman, who made obscene hand gestures to the media during his trial, showed no emotion when sentenced and said nothing in his defense. His lawyers asked for leniency, saying Thurman was mentally unstable and needed counseling, not prison.

A jury in May took only three hours to convict Thurman of first-degree murder. He was angry about a drug deal that went sour and thought his companion, Pfenning, had become a police informant.

After a day of drinking and smoking marijuana with friends, Thurman asked Pfenning to go for a “drunken stumble” in the woods, prosecutors said during the trial.

Thurman had a .44-caliber pistol holstered to his hip when the two went into the forest near Naples, south of Bonners Ferry. Pfenning never returned from the walk. Authorities found his body on a hillside days later.

Pfenning had been shot four times. Two bullets were fired into his back as he tried to run from Thurman. The last shot, prosecutors said, was fired into Pfenning’s head as he lay dying on the ground.

Several of Thurman’s friends heard him threaten to kill Pfenning. One testified Thurman confessed to the murder and almost gleefully gave details of how it happened.

“The victim begged (Thurman) not to shoot him, but he ignored his pleas, continuing to shoot Cedar Pfenning as he attempted to flee for his life,” Prosecutor Denise Woodbury wrote in court documents.

Thurman was arrested when he went back to the area where police were searching for Pfenning’s body. He was still wearing his pistol on his hip.

, DataTimes