He treated a homeless man to breakfast, then killed him. Man sentenced for Idaho murder
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Sally Krutzig, Idaho Statesman
“Cameron and Justin, who had been homeless for few months at that point, were cold and hungry and accepted what they thought was a kind gesture,” Ada County Deputy Prosecutor Katelyn Farley said in court on Thursday.
Hours later, Friesner was dead. Police found his body on July 27, 2023, near the Boise Airport in an industrial area along South Production Avenue, north of Gowen Road.
In an emotional sentencing hearing Thursday, Farley told the story of what went wrong after Dallas Brower, a then-27-year-old from Twin Falls, took the two men to the IHOP on South Federal Way.
After breakfast, the three men went out to Brower’s car. Brower offered Friesner and Russell a marijuana joint, which Farley said was laced with fentanyl that caused the men to fall asleep.
“I watched my own best friend die for no reason.”
“Cameron indicated after only having taken a few hits, his memory goes black before waking up to his best friend being stabbed by the defendant while still in the back seat of the defendant’s vehicle,” Farley said.
Russell remembers the baby-blue latex gloves and “devilish smile” Brower wore as he stabbed Friesner, the deputy prosecuting attorney said.
Russell then jumped into the driver’s seat and attempted to drive away as Brower banged on the window until the car became stuck in the rocks of a gravel pit that Brower had taken them to while they were passed out, Farley said.
In what was probably his dying breaths, Friesner told his friend to get out of there, according to 4th District Judge Derrick O’Neill.
Russell got out of there. He ran until he found workers near the airport, who described him as “frantic to get help for his friend.”
“Justin was the sweetest person I knew,” Russell said. “It traumatized me. I could not sleep at night. I watched my own best friend die for no reason. The fact that he (Brower) has no remorse or anything — it’s sad.”
Boise Police Lt. Jake Nichols was the first officer to respond to the scene. He found Brower walking while on the phone, a belt in his hand. Nichols described Brower as “very calm” and “covered in blood,” according to Farley.
Brower claimed that Friesner and Russell had tried to carjack him, but evidence — including a buried knife and a phone note expressing the desire to kill, written hours before the murder — pointed to this being a premeditated plan by Brower.
Twin Falls man pleads guilty
Brower confessed and pleaded guilty in May to first-degree murder in the death of Friesner and to the aggravated assault of Russell with a deadly weapon.
Thursday’s sentencing was the first time many of the case’s details were made public.
The Ada County coroner’s report listed Friesner’s cause of death as “sharp force injuries of the neck and chest,” as well as defensive wounds on his hands and arms. The report said Friesner had been stabbed 16 times.
“Not a day goes by without me wishing I was there to protect him in those final moments, one last time,” Deslie Friesner, the victim’s sister, said in court, her voice choking. “…I can’t imagine the way he fell in his final moments. The only peace we have is that he fought to the end because that’s just who he was.”
Police records show Brower had a history of violent crimes and drug use. Brower completed an 18-month-stay at a Boise drug rehabilitation center just seven days before killing Friesner, the prosecutor said.
A psychology expert testified that he believed Brower suffered from schizoaffective disorder, a mental health condition in which a patient suffers from schizophrenia and mood-disorder symptoms, according to the Mayo Clinic’s website.
Public defender Jonathan Loschi did not deny his client had committed murder but disputed the allegations that the joint contained fentanyl and the crime was premeditated. Brower told his attorneys that he’d experienced hallucinations for years and noticed himself becoming more violent about four years ago after his use of drugs, including methamphetamine, “ramped up,” the defense attorney said.
Loschi said it wasn’t until they were all sitting down at IHOP that Brower began to believe that Friesner and Russell should die.
“They’re eating when he starts having these hallucinations with voices of thought that these are bad guys who had done bad things, and I need to do something about this,” Loschi said. “It was almost an out-of-body experience. He was not in his right mind.”
Family remembers loved one
Summer Friesner wasn’t supposed to be able to have children. Her uterus flipped upside down her senior year of high school when she was bucked off a bull.
“Justin was my miracle baby, and then for him to be taken like that —” Friesner’s mother told the Idaho Statesman by phone. “I still can’t believe it.”
His family said Friesner loved four-wheeling, biking and making friends with everyone he encountered. He grew up doing mixed martial arts and was trained in eight fighting styles.
He was known for his sense of humor and enjoyed making others laugh by singing and dancing around. People were drawn to him, according to his mother.
“He was fun and outgoing, and he could light up a room,” Summer Friesner said. “He was so loved.”
Like Brower, Friesner struggled with a methamphetamine addiction, which was the reason he was at the bus stop that day.
“He had to be sober to come home, and so he called and said he wanted to come home, and I told him to get clean,” his mother explained.
His mother believes he was working toward that goal. Shortly before his death, he messaged a former teacher to tell her he wanted to quit drugs, start making better choices and repair his relationship with his son.
“He said, ‘I’m almost 25. It’s time to grow up,” his mother said.
But no matter his condition, Friesner was known for his selflessness, his mother said. She remembered when their elderly neighbor called to ask for help with some heavy lifting. Friesner, who had been in the middle of eating, didn’t stop to finish. He stood up and headed straight over, breakfast in hand.
“Even when Justin was at his lowest points in life, he would do anything for anybody,” Summer Friesner said. “No matter how bad life was for him, he was always there to pick up anybody else. He always put his needs on the back burner for everybody else.”
Judge hands out long sentence
When it came time for his own statement at the sentencing, Brower kept it short.
“I would just like to apologize to everyone that’s been affected by my actions, and know I’m here today willing and ready to accept whatever the consequences,” Brower said.
O’Neill sentenced Brower to life in prison, with 25 years fixed, for the murder, and five years for assault.
“I sincerely hope you have mental health issues,” O’Neill told Brower. “I would hate to think that your soul is so vacant that this was entirely, unconditionally premeditated and deliberate and remorseless.”
In court, the victim’s loved ones were given the chance to address Brower.
“Now, I get to watch my nephew grow up without his dad, the only child my brother had before you took his innocent life,” said Deslie Friesner. “I get to watch my parents mourn the loss of their son for the rest of their lives.”
She grieved the loss of the brother with whom she’d grown up camping, playing in the woods and tossing a football around, as well as the uncle her child would never get to know.
“You are not a man,” she told Brower. “You’re a weak and sorry excuse. Justin never gave up. And here you are now, right where you belong.”
(Idaho Statesman) — Justin Friesner, a 24-year-old from Parma, and h