Jury gets more leeway in double murder trial

TWIN FALLS, Idaho – Jurors in a teenager’s murder trial will be able to find the defendant guilty of murder even if they don’t believe she pulled the trigger, a judge has decided.

Fifth District Judge Barry Wood has approved so-called “aiding and abetting” instructions to be given to the jury on Monday.

Under those instructions, jurors may find that Sarah Johnson is guilty of killing both her parents even if they believe she helped someone else commit the crime.

Defense attorney Bob Pangburn objected to the instruction.

“There is no dispute that a killing has occurred,” he said. “Their (the prosecution) contention is that she did it. Our defense is that Ms. Johnson didn’t do it. There’s no evidence whatsoever that connects between Ms. Johnson and someone else.”

Johnson, now 18, is accused of shooting her mother, Diane, in the head while she slept and then turning the rifle on her father, Alan, as he came out of the shower on Sept. 2, 2003.

Prosecutors claim she killed her parents at their Bellevue home because they disapproved of her relationship with a 19-year-old man. The trial was moved to Boise.

But the judge said there was clear evidence that Johnson could have assisted the murderer because she knew where many of the items now in evidence were kept.

He said some of the evidence found at the scene were items that only Johnson could have known about.

The trial is scheduled to resume Monday with closing arguments. Then the jury will be sequestered until it reaches a verdict.