Shooter pleads guilty to Coeur d’Alene murder

A man who fatally shot another man after a fight at a Coeur d’Alene bar last year pleaded guilty this week to second-degree murder.

Juan C. Aldana Villanueva, 23, is in Kootenai County Jail awaiting sentencing for the May 9, 2009, murder of Timothy I. Wolfe, 21.

Villanueva, who worked at a Post Falls restaurant, had argued with Wolfe at a Coeur d’Alene bar before Villanueva left and then returned to the downtown area with a gun, according to court documents. Wolfe, a Coeur d’Alene Tribe member, was home from college for Mother’s Day.

Wolfe was shot to death near Third Street and Indiana Avenue about 2:15 a.m. Villanueva claimed self-defense, and police noted scratches on his face where he said Wolfe’s friends had attacked him.

Villanueva had been charged with first-degree murder but pleaded to the lesser charge Monday. He faces 10 years to life in prison.