March 2, 2004
After consensus was
reached between the prosecutor, the sheriff, the investigator and the victim,
aggravated battery charges against Wendy Thurman, 53, Bonners Ferry, were
reduced to simple battery for shooting her husband in the buttocks with a
.45-caliber pistol September 11, 2003, at their home on County Road 36.
The plea agreement was reached less than a week before the case was scheduled for trial March 8. At her sentencing hearing this morning, defense attorney Savi Grewal requested withheld judgment and prosecutor Jack Douglas and deputy prosecutor Denise Woodbury, noting she had no prior record and that there was little likelihood of such an act occurring again, agreed.
Judge Steven Verby concurred. She was sentenced to 90 days in jail with 82 suspended and given credit for eight days served, ordered to perform 80 hours community service, fined $100 fine plus court costs, ordered to reimburse Boundary County $300, and placed on two years unsupervised probation. She was also ordered to continue counseling. If she successfully completes probation, the charge will be purged from her record.
“I am pleased to announce to the community that with the assistance of the victim, and an agreement worked out separately between Sheriff George Voyles, Detective Mike Naumann and I, and with the cooperation of the defense, we were able to bring this case to a successful conclusion,” Douglas said. “We believe this is a fair conclusion, given the nature of the case and the fact that Wendy Thurman was apparently the victim of long-term marital abuse. Even the victim agreed this was a fair result. Wendy Thurman can now get on with her life, receive the care and counseling she needs to recover. I’m glad we could show compassion in this case, and I know we all wish her well in the future.”
According to reports, a hysterical Wendy Thurman called sheriffs dispatch at about 8:13 p.m. September 11 and reported she’d shot her husband, Gary Thurman, and needed help. She said she’d warned her husband to leave her alone, but that he kept walking towards her. She wasn’t certain she’d hit him, she said, and didn’t know what kind of gun she’d used, except that it was a big one. She didn’t know where he’d gone after the shooting, saying he’d walked away, but she kept pleading for help, saying he may be bleeding to death and that she hadn’t meant to hurt him. She told the dispatcher that they’d been married for 30 years, and that she’d been abused for all those years, and that she just wanted him to leave her alone.
In a later interview with Naumann, she said she was mad at Gary for not giving her a ride to town earlier, and was angry that he was staying with a girlfriend in a cabin on their property. Earlier that evening, she’d called to report he was driving drunk.
After being shot, Gary returned to the cabin, located about 300 yards from the main residence, and a neighbor transported him to Boundary Community Hospital, where he was treated and released.
Last week, Gary Thurman came to the prosecutors office to ask that the charge against his wife, now separated, be reduced, and to say he did not seek or want restitution or to see the case go to trial. He was at the office again this morning to confirm his request. Douglas, Nauman and Voyles met on Monday to discuss the case, and all three agreed that a reduction in the charge served the interest of justice.