Jury Sees Gruesome Videotape Prosecution Shows Wounds Of Susan Foutz, Rests Case

Kootenai County prosecutors rested their case against accused murderer Stephen Cherry on Friday with a videotape of the crime scene and testimony that focused on the graphic details of Susan Foutz’s injuries.

Foutz, 42, was shot and killed last June at her Hauser Lake home. Cherry, 46, attempted suicide at the scene. He’s charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery and aggravated assault.

Prosecutors say Cherry wounded 40-year-old Charles Babb, who had stayed with Foutz the night before, and chased Foutz’s roommate Tami Hoover through the house and into the woods threatening to kill her.

On Friday, jurors winced and family members wept as investigators explained photo after photo detailing Foutz’s four gunshot wounds. Cherry rocked in his chair and consistently looked away when photos were passed to his attorney.

Prosecutors called licensed anatomical pathologist L.R. Bernard to explain Foutz’s wounds. One bullet entered her chest wall and exited the other side, through her arm, fracturing several ribs and the sternum.

“In most situations someone who got medical help, this would not be a fatal wound,” Bernard said.

The second wound was more severe, with the bullet puncturing both lungs and severing the aorta - the major vessel that carries blood to the brain and heart. Bernard said a person could live for four or five minutes after sustaining such an injury. The third bullet, shot from close range behind Foutz’s ear, would have been fatal.

Bernard was unable to say whether the bullet wound through Foutz’s hand was related to any of the other wounds. But he did say it appeared to be a defensive injury, which usually happens when someone’s holding a hand up for protection.

He concluded that the shot to the head was the last, after Foutz’s aorta had been severed.

In other testimony, Kootenai County sheriff’s Sgt. Ken Sopher said Foutz’s roommate told him Cherry had asked Foutz to marry him and she had said yes.

A letter in an envelope with Foutz’s name on the front was found in Cherry’s truck, along with an engagement ring, Sopher said.

Cherry’s attorney, Public Defender John Adams, had few questions for Friday’s prosecution witnesses. He did ask both investigators whether they had searched the garage area and the maroon pickup parked there. Both said they had not.

Kent Johnston, a homicide detective, said no ammunition was found in Cherry’s truck or home. There also were no distinguishable fingerprints on the rifle.

Prosecutors tried to show the bolt action of the 30.06 rifle before the jury using blank ammunition, but the demonstration fizzled when the rifle malfunctioned, preventing an investigator from locking the bolt back into place.

The defense will begin its side of the case Monday.

, DataTimes