Teen Given Unusual Sentence Boy Guilty Of Manslaughter Could Face 25 Years In Prison
A Princeton, Idaho, boy has been sentenced to juvenile detention and could still go to prison in the shooting death of his younger brother.
Jason Zimmerman, 15, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the Aug. 30, 1994, shooting death of his brother, Justin. He also pleaded guilty to aggravated assault for pointing the same .22-caliber rifle at another boy and pulling the trigger.
He was sentenced Monday to juvenile detention for up to six years followed by the possibility of 25 more years in prison.
“I’m doing something I’ve never done before,” 2nd District Judge John Bengtson said.
“I do find that it would be inappropriate … to place him in the general population of the state penitentiary,” Bengtson said. “So there’s a lot at stake in the next three to six years of Jason’s life.”
The judge said his unusual sentence was the product of soulsearching and a plea agreement by Latah County Prosecutor William Thompson Jr. and Public Defender Michael Henegen.
Zimmerman will stay in the Idaho Youth Services Center at St. Anthony until he is 21 or completes a series of treatment programs or is recalled by the court.
That part of his sentence is for the assault charge. Once he completes that stint, he still must face sentencing on the involuntary manslaughter charge.
Because he used a firearm in the felony, the potential sentence was enhanced to a maximum of 25 years in prison on top of the juvenile detention.
“Don’t have your folks lose another son by doing something that will cause you to go to the penitentiary,” Bengtson told him.
“I remember pointing the gun at (the second boy), not to harm him in any way, but just to scare him a little bit,” Zimmerman told Bengtson.
He said he had been drinking vodka, but knew the gun’s chamber was empty. Sometime later, however, Zimmerman said he pointed the gun again, this time at his brother.
“I thought that there still wasn’t one (a round) in the chamber,” he said. “I was very intoxicated.”
Justin died of a single gunshot wound above the left eye, according to court records.