Victim pulled trigger, witness says; murder charge dropped

RUPERT, Idaho – A judge dismissed a murder charge after a woman testified that she saw a man put the barrel of the gun in his mouth before it went off as a group of four people argued while driving home from a bar.

The testimony by Kaylee Jones and others on Wednesday led 5th District Magistrate Judge Rick Bollar to drop the second-degree murder charge against Michael Jared Thompson of Burley, Idaho, in the death of Michael Kenneth Blair, 21.

Bollar said evidence at the preliminary hearing indicated that Thompson pointed the gun only at the back seat of his truck, not at a person. He declined to send the case to trial in District Court.

Minidoka County Prosecutor Lance Stevenson then filed an involuntary manslaughter charge against Thompson, 24. He was scheduled to appear in court Thursday on that charge.

Jones said Blair and front-seat passenger Kristin Crull were bickering, and Thompson attempted to end the argument by pulling the gun and saying, “ ‘If you don’t shut up, I’m going to shoot one of you.’ ”

Jones testified that Blair then said: “ ‘If you’re going to shoot someone, it might as well be me.’ ” Blair slid to the center of the back seat, placed the barrel of the gun in his mouth and his hands over Thompson’s hand before the gun went off, Jones testified.