Prosecutor denies allegations of ‘serious’ misconduct in Compass Academy shooting case

IDAHO FALLS – The defense attorney for one of the people accused in the 2022 Compass Academy shooting says the Bonneville County prosecutor violated the Idaho Professional Rules of Conduct.

The IPRC is a list of rules that outlines the moral and ethical duties and requirements for members of the Idaho State Bar.

Mike Winchester, the defense attorney for Aaron Murdoch, 22, alleges that Bonneville County Prosecutor Randy Neal led Murdoch to believe he would be granted immunity from charges if he spoke to prosecutors about the incident.

Winchester says Murdoch openly spoke to prosecutors, but was later indicted for felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon enhancement.

According to a March 2024 grand jury indictment, Murdoch allegedly tried to shoot Taylor Aughenbaugh and/or another man “without intent to kill” as shots rang out among multiple people in the school parking lot on Feb. 12, 2022. Murdoch was allegedly shot in the leg by Aughenbaugh during the incident.

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Court documents state that Winchester is accusing Neal of violating rules 3.8 and 4.3 of the IPRC:

• Rule 3.8: “(A) prosecutor has the responsibility of a minister of justice and not simply that of an advocate.”
• Rule 4.3: “(A) lawyer shall not give legal advice to an unrepresented person, other than the advice to secure counsel, if the lawyer knows or reasonably should know that the interests of such a person are or have a reasonable possibility of being in conflict with the interests of the client.”

On Sept. 22, Murdoch and his attorney filed a motion to dismiss the case, alleging that Neal had committed “serious prosecutorial misconduct.” This filing was sealed until District Judge Jason Walker unsealed it on April 15, after the defense requested that it be made available to the public under Murdoch’s Sixth Amendment right to an open and fair trial.

Walker was assigned to the case at the end of January, when District Judge Dane Watkins Jr. retired. Watkins had previously sealed the records and denied requests to unseal them.

The prosecution consistently requested that the motion remain sealed because it contained excerpts from the grand jury hearing in the case, which, under most circumstances, is confidential.

Neal vehemently denies all these allegations but says he cannot discuss the case openly yet.

“Since assuming public office, it has always been my practice to be as open and transparent to the public as I am ethically allowed,” Neal tells EastIdahoNews.com. “However, after consulting with general counsel for the Idaho State Bar specifically as it relates to the professional boundaries that apply in this situation, I have been advised to wait until the court hearing next month to respond to the hyperbolic accusations contained in the recently released court documents.”

Unsealed allegations

After the shooting, the state sent out several subpoenas for the grand jury hearing, including one to Murdoch, according to the newly unsealed motion to dismiss filed by the defense. Before he received the subpoena, Murdoch says he received a call from someone at the prosecutor’s office asking him to meet with Neal.

Shortly before the grand jury hearing, Murdoch says he met with Neal and a victim/witness coordinator and was told by Neal not to discuss the facts of the case because Neal was not his lawyer.

The motion claims that “immediately after, Neal or (the victim/witness coordinator) provided Murdoch with a victim rights pamphlet and discussed his rights as a victim of a shooting and provided him with crime victim’s compensation paperwork/applications.”

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Murdoch says that toward the end of the meeting, Neal told him, “There is nothing to charge you with except for maybe brandishing.” The motion claims that Neal then handed Murdoch a list of attorneys and said, “I have to give you this, but I don’t think you need an attorney.”

“At no point during the meeting did Neal mention that Murdoch was a target or that Neal intended to seek an indictment for aggravated assault,” claims the defense. “Murdoch accepted Neal’s advice: his need for counsel and representation about the evidence as true.”

The defense also claims that during the grand jury hearing, Murdoch was the only defendant who was not advised of his right to counsel as harshly as the others before testifying.

Also in the motion to dismiss, the defense included a polygraph test taken by Murdoch, where he was reportedly asked, “Did the prosecutor, Randy Neal, tell you, ‘I don’t think you need a lawyer’ at approximately the same time he gave you a list with lawyers?’ and ‘Did the prosecutor, Randy Neal, say to you, ‘There is nothing to charge you with, except maybe brandishing?’

The motion claims that Murdoch answered yes to both questions, and the polygraph determined he was telling the truth.

Neal told EastIdahoNews.com that he never said or implied these things to Murdoch. He did confirm that there was a victim/witness coordinator with him at the meeting with Murdoch.

Neal later filed a motion to strike Murdoch’s polygraph, which was accepted by the court since polygraph tests are not admissible evidence in court based on Idaho law.

On Sept 25, the defense filed a motion to disqualify Neal as the prosecuting attorney, arguing that he had also subpoenaed Murdoch to testify in the trial of Aughenbaugh, another defendant in the same incident.

“In this case, Neal is in a position that he will have the temptation to place his own interests (i.e., challenging the allegations of misconduct to protect himself from bar discipline or reputational harm as an elected official) over his duty to the State of Idaho and his obligation to seek justice,” says Winchester in the motion.

On Oct. 15, the defense subpoenaed Neal to testify at an upcoming hearing, and on Oct. 20, the defense disclosed that it would also ask the polygraph examiner to testify.

On Oct. 29, Neal filed a motion to quash the subpoena, arguing that the defense should not be able to call him to testify. According to an excerpt from court documents, Neal argued that he believed the defense was trying to impeach him for personal and political reasons.

In March, Neal announced he would run for district judge in Madison County against current Seventh District Judge Steven Boyce.

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“Their focus is on me. … The court’s focus should be on the office. We need to protect the integrity of the prosecuting attorney, the elected prosecuting attorney,” Winchester claims Neal said during a court hearing.

Neal suggested that an employee who was present for the conversation with Murdoch testify in his place.

Both sides are expected to present evidence and arguments regarding the allegations at a hearing on May 21.

EastIdahoNews.com reached out to Winchester, who declined to comment due to pending litigation.

We also reached out to Neal, who reiterated his denial of the accusations and encouraged the public to wait until the next hearing in Murdoch’s case, where he said he would be able to prove that he did not violate the IPRC.

“While it is frustrating that I am ethically restricted from an immediate response, this is consistent with the longstanding preference that we will try cases in court rather than in the press. Almost every day, courts must decide who is telling the truth about what was said and what was done, and those determinations are made after a thorough review of the evidence by judges and juries rather than machines,” says Neal. “Please remember that what attorneys say and argue is not evidence. I ask the public to reserve judgment until this matter can be fairly adjudicated through the court process.”

The other defendants

Multiple other defendants have already been sentenced regarding the same shooting incident that killed 25-year-old Alexander Barber.

Gabriel Perkins, 20, was sentenced by Watkins to 17 to 40 years in prison for the death of Barber and the shooting of another victim.

Skyler Andra, 19, was sentenced by Watkins to 90 days in local jail with work release, 100 hours of community service and five years of probation, with an underlying sentence of three to five years in prison if he violates his probation. Andra was the driver of a vehicle that ran over Barber after Barber was shot in the head by Perkins. Andra was later indicted for felony leaving the scene of an injury accident and pleaded guilty in a plea agreement.

Aughenbaugh, 20, signed a plea deal in February, agreeing to plead guilty to one count of felony aggravated battery and one felony enhancement for the use of a deadly weapon. Aughenbaugh is accused of shooting a man in the upper back and shooting Murdoch in the leg. He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 11.