Man charged in the shooting death of friend pleads not guilty - East Idaho News
Crime Watch

Man charged in the shooting death of friend pleads not guilty

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IDAHO FALLS– A jury trial has been scheduled for an Ammon man accused of fatally shooting his friend two times in the back and once in the hand.

Justin Sarbaum pleaded not guilty during an arraignment hearing Monday morning in Bonneville County before District Judge William H. Woodland.

A jury trial, which is expected to last a week, was scheduled for September.

Sarbaum is charged in the Jan. 14 shooting death of Tyson Tew on the 2700 block of St. Clair Road. Sarbaum said Tew attacked him, and he was acting in self-defense when he fatally shot Tew.

Prosecutors presented evidence during a preliminary hearing May 12 that contradicts Sarbaum’s self-defense claims.

Dr. Ann L. Bucholtz, a forensic pathologist for Ada County Coroner’s Office, testified that Tew was shot three times: once in the back right armpit, once to the center of the back and once to the knuckle side of the right hand near the thumb.

Bucholtz told the court that other than the gunshot wound, no trauma or disturbances to Tew’s hands, elbows or legs were discovered. Injuries that would coincide or collaborate Sarbaum’s statement of being attacked were not found.

Bucholtz testified, with “reasonable medical certainty,” after reviewing Tew’s body, the injuries to Sarbaum’s face were not caused by Tew’s hands or elbows.

Idaho Falls Police detective Patrick McKenna, an expert in blood splatter analysis, testified that evidence in Sarbaum’s apartment did not support Sarbaum’s statements that Tew violently attacked him in the master bedroom.

“There was no indication of a violent fight that we were being told about,” McKenna told the court after testifying about the lack of blood splatter and the master bedroom not being in disarray.

Sarbaum remains out of jail on bond.

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