Idaho man fatally shot his stepson in Nampa. Why the jury acquitted him of murder
A Caldwell man who was accused of murdering his stepson in Nampa in 2021 has been acquitted of the charge after a six-day trial.
Ronald Carpenter, 78, was found not guilty of the second-degree murder of Michael L. Koch, 56, after a jury concluded that Carpenter acted in self-defense.
According to Idaho law, murder can be considered justifiable if it was committed in self-defense while resisting an attempt to cause great bodily harm or murder to oneself or another person.
Carpenter fatally shot Koch after an altercation at Koch’s home, according to an affidavit. The affidavit stated that Carpenter was aware of Koch’s criminal past. In 2002, Koch was convicted of rape and battery with intent to commit lewd conduct with a minor.
“That this belief was in my mind and was part of the well-founded fear I felt when Mr. Koch attacked me with a baseball bat,” Carpenter wrote in his affidavit.
According to the instructions provided to the jury, the shooting could be considered self-defense if fear played a significant role in the decision to commit the act, and if a reasonable person placed in the same situation would understand that the defendant acted solely out of fear.
Koch attacked stepdad with bat, record says
The incident in March 2021 began when Carpenter came to Koch’s home on the 16000 block of Portner Road in Nampa to retrieve his tools, according to the probable cause affidavit. Koch had let Carpenter use his shop to repair Carpenter’s semi-truck. But eventually Koch wanted Carpenter off the property, the affidavit said.
Carpenter agreed that he would come by to pick up his tools from the driveway. The tools Carpenter was coming to pick up were a metal lathe, an engine hoist, a power hydraulic and a mechanic’s dolly that would need to be placed on a trailer due to its weight, according to the affidavit.
During the trial, his attorney Alexander Briggs told the jury that Koch’s wife, Tamara Koch, asked Carpenter to give her notice before he came so she could keep her husband in the home while Carpenter retrieved his tools.
Carpenter’s friend noticed that Carpenter’s tools were left on a gravel driveway and messaged him that they were on the ground, Briggs said. When Carpenter arrived at the home in Nampa, he also noticed a note left on his power hydraulic, which called him a “sick f-----” and told him never to contact him again, Briggs told the jury. Carpenter also found his mechanic dolly cut in half and threw it at Koch’s truck, according to the affidavit.
Koch ran out of his home yelling at Carpenter for throwing the dolly at his truck, and ran to Carpenter’s truck, where Carpenter kept a baseball bat, the affidavit said. He then struck the windshield of his stepfather’s truck and the hood. Once he made it to the driver’s side, Carpenter believed Koch would beat him with the baseball bat, according to the affidavit.
Carpenter drew out his gun, and Koch said, “Shoot me you motherf-----,” then Carpenter fired one round into Koch and fired another 5 seconds later, the affidavit said.
A ring camera video showed Koch raising the bat toward Carpenter and his stepfather firing the first round, and Koch falling to the ground and dropping the bat, then trying to rise from a sitting position when the second shot was fired, according to the affidavit.
Canyon County sheriff’s deputies said they later found Koch lying on the ground, deceased, with the baseball bat under his right leg.
