New trial rejected for Idaho man convicted of killing wife

BOISE – The Idaho Supreme Court has upheld a lower court’s ruling rejecting a request for a new trial by a man convicted of killing his estranged wife and covering up her murder.

The court in a ruling made public Friday agreed with a lower court decision that new evidence offered by Charles Capone even if allowed would not have led to an acquittal.

Prosecutors have said Capone killed 40-year-old Rachael Anderson of Clarkston, Washington, in 2010. Capone was sentenced in September 2014 to life in prison without parole after being convicted of first-degree murder.

He was also sentenced to 20 years in prison for failure to notify law enforcement of a death and conspiracy for failure to notify law enforcement of a death.

Capone’s co-defendant, David Stone, testified that he witnessed Capone strangle Anderson and helped dump Anderson’s body in the Snake River. Stone was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Capone has maintained that he did not kill Anderson or throw her body in the river.

Capone argued in his request for a new trial that statements made by Stone’s former cellmate contradicted Stone’s testimony and would have produced an acquittal.

Capone also claimed that Stone was an accomplice to the murder rather than a bystander and that there was not enough evidence to corroborate Stone’s testimony about Capone’s failure to notify authorities of Anderson’s death.

But the Idaho Supreme Court rejected those arguments and affirmed the lower court’s ruling denying Capone’s motion for a new trial.