Defense: Thomas justified for shooting Kingsley
Opening statements and testimony in the murder trial of 18-year-old Stephen Thomas revealed a storyline and defense Tuesday consistent with the trial of his alleged accomplice, 20-year-old Heather Henson.
Henson was convicted in December of attempted mitigated deliberate homicide and sentenced to five years in prison for the shooting death of 67-year-old Larry Kingsley.
The defense Tuesday said Thomas was justified last July for shooting Kingsley – described as a dangerous and unstable man. The prosecution claimed that if Thomas had felt threatened by Kingsley, he had opportunities to safely get away from him prior to the shooting.
The defense and prosecution said that Kingsley met the two homeless teenagers days before his death, took them on shopping sprees in Kalispell and Libby and allowed them to stay with him in his camper.
Henson and Thomas admitted killing Kingsley at a remote Sylvan Lake campground after their arrest, but said they did it out of fear for their lives in the hands of a threatening, delusional man with multiple weapons in his possession.
Defense attorney Ann German’s version of the shooting described Thomas spinning around to see the glint of Kingsley’s knife as he lunged at Henson from a camp chair. With a loaded .223-caliber rifle in his hand, Thomas began shooting Kingsley.
“He acted in a defensive way to stop Mr. Kingsley from attacking or hurting Heather or himself,” German said during her opening statements. “In Stephen’s mind, he had to protect Heather, and that’s what he did.”
The prosecution said that Kingsley was drunk and sitting in a camp chair with his eyes closed when Henson and Thomas began shooting him, each from less than eight feet away. Henson emptied a.223-caliber mini-14 rifle and .22-caliber pistol in Kingsley’s direction, and Thomas shot an unknown number of rounds from a .223-caliber AR-15 semiautomatic assault rifle. Thomas then shot Kingsley with the barrel pointed only millimeters from his head.
“Dr. Dale (Mortensen) will testify that Mr. Kingsley suffered at least 10 bullet wounds,” Cassidy said. “There is a silver-dollar sized hole in the side of Mr. Kingsley’s head from the Bushmaster AR-15. Because of the size of that wound, he was not able to determine if there were any other wounds.”
German claimed that Thomas gave Kingsley the final shot to the head because Kingsley was twitching and Thomas thought he was still alive.
“He was terrified,” German said. “He felt that he was fighting to save his life, and he is doing that again here today. It was a justifiable use of force.”
Seven men and seven women – the jury and two alternates – are scheduled to listen to testimony into the middle of next week.
Thomas is being tried for deliberate homicide, tampering with a crime scene and stealing the victim’s pickup.