Jurors in murder trial hear details about shooting death of Fort Hall man

POCATELLO — A federal jury comprised of 10 men and four women heard details from witnesses at the scene during the first day of testimony in the murder trial of Anthony Ish of Fort Hall.

Ish, 33, is charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of 44-year-old Darrell Auck, also from Fort Hall. Auck was allegedly shot to death at a Fort Hall residence owned by Ish’s grandmother, Bonnie Ish, and his body was never recovered.

Ish was indicted in September 2015 in the shooting death.

Angel Teton was the first witness called by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Haycock Tuesday.

Teton testified that she attended a birthday party for Ish at his grandmother’s home on the evening of Oct. 14, 2014. She attended the party with Auck, or Dough Boy, as he was known in the Fort Hall community, and a group of friends.

Teton said the party started inside the mobile home, located on East Agency Road, and the group of about 10 people were drinking and smoking marijuana and Spice.

Auck was wearing a blue bandana and when another guest complained about the color of the bandana, Ish took it and gave Auck a white bandana to wear instead. Sometime later, Auck was dancing and accidently bumped into the defendant.

“(Ish) got angry and (Auck) apologized and said it was an accident,” Teton told the court. “(Ish) told him to stop it, that it was gay.”

Teton said she asked Auck if he wanted to leave the party and he said he did not.

“(Ish) and (Auck) shook hands and (Auck) said, ‘We’re cool, everything is cool,’” Teton said.

Teton said at one point, she and Auck left the residence and went to Chubbuck to buy more beer. She admitted to drinking more than five alcoholic drinks prior to the shooting.

When Bonnie Ish came home, Teton said the party moved outside.

“Everything happened so fast,” an emotional Teton said Tuesday. “I remember seeing (Auck) step back with his hand raised and I saw (Ish) walking toward him with the gun pointed straight at him and he just shot.”

Teton testified that she heard three shots and saw the weapon flash three times and then Auck went down.

“(Ish) stood over him with the gun and said, ‘(Expletive) this nigr,’” Teton said. “I tried to ask (Ish) to stop. Everyone was freaking out.”
Ish is being represented by Blackfoot Attorney Jeremy D. Brown.

During cross examination, Teton told Brown that she asked someone if Ish had just shot Auck. Someone at the party told her that Auck had been pistol whipped, but he would be all right. She said that she did not see blood or bullet wounds on Auck’s body.

Teton said she tried to speak to Auck who was lying on his side with his arm across his face, but he was unresponsive. As she tried to get someone to help her get Auck up, Teton said she heard her boyfriend, Travis Faulkner, leave the residence in her truck.

Teton said she also witnessed Ish kicking Auck’s body as it lay on the ground and Teton said the defendant was pumped up following the shooting.

“(Ish) was walking around with the gun and he had an evil look in his eye and he looked like he wanted to hurt someone else,” Teton said

Scared and unsure of what she had just witnessed, Teton said she left the scene with a friend who was already waiting by her car. And that’s when Teton said she then heard a fourth shot fired.

Teton said she saw Auck’s body lying on the ground as she was leaving the rural residence.

The two women drove back to Faulkner’s home in the Gibson District where she met Faulkner and another male friend. They went to the nearby home of Norman Faulkner, reported what they had just witnessed and Travis Faulkner called the police.

Teton, Faulkner and two other witnesses were interviewed by investigators the next morning.

Brown noted that Teton told police during that interview that she did not see Ish in possession of the gun prior to the shooting.

“In fact, you told police that it was dark and you don’t see well in the dark,” Brown said.

Teton said she was able to see the weapon, a handgun, when it flashed after being fired.

“I saw (Ish) shoot (Auck) and I saw him go down,” Teton affirmed.

During opening statements Tuesday Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Lou, told the jury that Auck made just one mistake that October evening and that was attending the birthday party hosted by the defendant.

Lou said the evidence will show that Ish fired multiple rounds directly at Auck as the victim was walking away from him.

Police found a large amount of blood and blood spatter at the Ish residence in Fort Hall along with four spent cartridges. DNA testing determined that the blood belonged to Auck.

Lou told the court that Auck has not claimed any per capita payments due him as an enrolled member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes since the shooting, and his family and friends have not heard from him.

“(Auck) is dead,” Lou stated. “(Ish) took his life and then he took (Auck’s) body away,” Lou said.

Brown told the court during opening arguments that witness testimony in the case is inconsistent and that the state did not look at other suspects or possible scenarios in the case.

The defense attorney said witnesses were not separated when they were interviewed by police and he noted that the 911 call reporting the shooting was made anonymously and when investigators tracked the witnesses down, they would not open the door.

“Pay close attention to inconsistencies in the testimony,” Brown told the jury.

The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of Auck’s body and threatened disenrollment and suspension of tribal benefits to all adult Ish family members if the body was not recovered.

The trial continues Wednesday and is expected to continue through the week.

This article was originally published in the Idaho State Journal. It is used here with permission.