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Thread: Nicholas Vandenberg Sentenced in 2017 ID Murder of Hunter Allyn Smith

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    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Nicholas Vandenberg Sentenced in 2017 ID Murder of Hunter Allyn Smith


    Montanna R. Reed, Nicholas B. Vandenberg and Willie K. Rabey


    Owhyee County intends to seek death penalty for 3 accused of killing hitchhiker

    By EMILY LOWE
    Idaho Press-Tribune

    The Owyhee County Prosecutor's Office filed notices of its intent to seek the death penalty for three defendants awaiting trial who are accused of conspiring and murdering an 18-year-old hitchhiker.

    Co-defendants Nicholas Vandenberg, 28, of Melba, Montanna Reed, 21, of Twin Falls, and Willie Rabey, 34, of Mountain Home earlier this year waived their rights to a speedy trial for a case related to the death of 18-year-old Hunter Allyn Smith, according to Owyhee County Prosecuting Attorney Douglas Emery.

    The notices of intent to seek the death penalty were filed in Nov. 2017 after the three were charged.

    Smith, who was hitchhiking in the Owyhee County area, was killed on or around June 22, 2017. His body was found by hunters in Owyhee County.

    Vandenberg was arrested on Oct. 26, 2017, by Idaho State Police in connection to Smith's death. He faces charges of first-degree murder, destroying evidence and possession of a firearm in the commission of a crime.

    Five days later, ISP detectives also arrested Reed and Rabey. Both face charges of conspiring to commit first-degree murder and destruction of evidence.

    Criminal complaints allege one of the three made contact with Smith and devised a plan in which Smith was invited to shoot firearms. Vandenberg would be the one to shoot and kill Smith, which occurred around June 22, 2017, in the presence of the other two defendants, the documents state. Vandenberg is accused of shooting Smith at close range in the upper torso and head. After the death, the trio is accused of removing and burning his clothing, then dragging him to a ditch to “make potential discovery of the corpse less likely," according to court documents.

    The Owyhee County court denied a defense motion to dismiss the grand jury indictment for Rabey, stating that “ample admissible evidence has been presented to support the indictment and to require the defendant to answer to the charges,” Emery wrote the Idaho Press in an email in July.

    The death penalty consideration for each of the cases could still be removed, Emery said.

    "Typically in case negotiations, the potential removal of the death penalty as an option in such case(s), is a focal discussion," Emery wrote in an email response to the Idaho Press.

    All the co-defendants' jury trials are set to begin in the spring of 2019.

    https://www.idahopress.com/news/loca...ca37b51c7.html
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    Owyhee County could seek death penalty against 3 suspects in the killing of a hitchhiker

    BY RUTH BROWN
    Idaho Statesman

    Three people in Owyhee County still await trial in the random, brutal killing of a teenage hitchhiker, after Prosecutor Douglas Emery in November filed notices of his intent to pursue the death penalty against all three defendants.

    On Aug. 13, District Judge Christopher Nye denied a request to dismiss suspect Nicolas Vandenberg’s indictment after police say he plotted Hunter Smith’s death.

    Vandenberg, 28, is accused of fatally shooting Smith in June 2017. Vanderberg’s two co-defendants, Willie Rabey, 35, and Montanna Reed, 21, could also get the death penalty if convicted in the case for their alleged roles in Smith’s death.

    Emery said Friday that the pleadings and/or allegations in one or more of the suspects’ cases could be amended, removing the death penalty as an option.

    “Typically in case negotiations, the potential removal of the death penalty ... is a focal discussion,” Emery wrote in an email to the Statesman.

    Vandenberg is accused of luring Smith, 18 — who was hitchhiking from Junction City, Oregon, to Boise — and shooting him in the head in the Bruneau Desert in Owyhee County. The group is accused of inviting him to go shooting at Vandenberg’s residence. His body was found in October 2017.

    The trio did not know Smith personally, and law enforcement has said they believe the suspects planned to kill him, and could have killed again in the future.

    Rabey is accused of witnessing the killing, knowing about the plan to kill Smith and helping move his corpse.

    Reed is also accused of witnessing the killing, helping in the removal of Smith’s body, knowing about the plan and helping to destroy his clothing.

    Vandenberg was indicted by a grand jury in November, but he filed a request to have the indictment dismissed. He claimed that at least one juror was biased, that he wasn’t read his Miranda rights in an October meeting with a detective and that some evidence shown to the grand jury was inadmissible. Nye denied the request.

    Nye wrote that the juror the defense attorney was questioning would have been biased only if the case involved domestic violence.

    In reference to the October meeting with a detective, the judge determined that the detective was not required to read Vandenberg his rights because he wasn’t under arrest at the time. He voluntarily came to the police station, he was not detained or handcuffed, and at no point while police questioned him did Vandenberg ask to leave, according to court documents.

    Vandenberg also argued that some texts to his co-defendants were inadmissible in court. The texts, sent on June 21, 2017, showed conversations between the co-defendants about killing Smith and about Vandenberg’s actions, according to court documents.

    Additionally, the judge’s order states that Vandenberg admitted he intentionally shot Smith four times, including shooting Smith in the head when he was already on the ground. Vandenberg allegedly admitted that it was not an accident and that he intended to kill Smith.

    He also allegedly admitted to stripping Smith of his clothes and burning them in a fire pit, later using a front-end loader to remove the fire pit and replacing it with gravel, according to the documents. Rabey reportedly told police that Vandenberg had “a lust for blood,” according to court documents.

    The court determined that even if some of the evidence given to a grand jury was inadmissible, there still would have been enough to indict Vandenberg.

    Vandenberg is charged on suspicion of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, failure to report a death and destruction of evidence.

    Rabey is charged on suspicion of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, destruction of evidence and failure to report a death. He has an enhancement for being a persistent violator, filed because Rabey has felony convictions in 2003 and 2004 for burglary in Owyhee County.

    Reed is charged on suspicion of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and failure to report a death.

    All three suspects remain in custody while they await trial, tentatively set for June 2019.

    Idaho Association of Counties Executive Director Seth Grigg said Owyhee County filed claims with the Capital Crimes Defense Fund, which supports counties that need help paying for potential death penalty trials.

    Pursuant to the rules of the Capital Crimes Defense Fund, Owyhee County would be responsible for the first $10,000 in expenses of a trial for each of the three suspects at trial. Any costs after that would be paid for through the fund.

    Grigg said Owyhee County paid about $4,780 into the fund in Fiscal Year 2019, but until now, the IAC has never had a claim submitted from Owyhee for a death penalty case. Every participating county pays into the fund, with a calculation based on its population.

    https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/...#storylink=cpy
    In the Shadow of Your Wings
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    June 5, 2019

    Final defendant involved in Hunter Tash-Smith murder case pleaded guilty to charges

    KBOI

    The third and final defendant involved in the murder of a 18-year-old hitchhiker pleaded guilty to her charges.

    Montanna Reed of Twin Falls, along with co-defendants Nicholas Vandenberg and Willie Rabey, were arrested in connection to the death of Hunter Tash-Smith in 2017.

    Tash-Smith was hitchhiking at the time, from Oregon to Nebraska for a job.

    The Idaho Press reports, Reed was initially charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and failing to report a death. She pleaded guilty instead to felony conspiracy to commit second-degree murder and failing to report a death as part of a plea deal that included taking the death penalty off the table in her case.

    Reed’s sentencing is set for early September. All three defendants could face life in prison.

    http://www.kboi.com/2019/06/05/final...ty-to-charges/

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    Two years after 18-year-old hitchhiker was murdered in Idaho, killer is sentenced

    By Katy Moeller
    Idaho Statesman

    Hunter Smith hadn’t planned to stay in Idaho in the summer of 2017. He was just passing through.

    The 18-year-old was hitchhiking to Nebraska, where he was promised a management job at a fast-food restaurant, his mother told the Statesman in a phone interview Tuesday.

    He never made it. His body was found by hunters in the Owyhee County desert in the fall of 2017.

    The man who shot him to death — Nicholas Vandenberg, of Melba — was sentenced in Owyhee County in Murphy on Tuesday morning. Vandenberg negotiated a plea deal with prosecutors, a Rule 11 agreement that couldn’t be altered by the judge.

    He will serve a life sentence on a first-degree murder charge, with 30 years fixed. That means he won’t be eligible for parole for 30 years. He received a life sentence on a charge of criminal conspiracy, with 10 years fixed. The sentences will be served concurrently, and he will get credit for time served.

    Two others were accused of plotting with Vandenberg and helping him cover up the killing: Montanna R. Reed, of Twin Falls, and Willie K. Rabey, of Mountain Home. Both took plea deals and will be sentenced in December. Reed pleaded guilty to criminal conspiracy and failure to notify authorities of a death, and Rabey pleaded guilty to accessory to first-degree murder, evidence destruction and failure to notify of a death.

    Owyhee County prosecutors filed notices last August of their intent to pursue the death penalty against all three suspects in Smith’s killing, but wound up taking that off the table in plea deals.

    Prosecutors said the trio befriended the young hitchhiker and then invited him to shoot guns. The group planned to commit other criminal acts in the future, including murder, the charging documents alleged.

    “There were discussions about other offenses. There’s no specific evidence to any other detailed [murder] plot,” Owyhee County Prosecutor Doug Emergy told the Statesman in a 2017 interview.

    Vandenberg shot Smith at close range in the upper torso and face/head with a .45-caliber pistol, prosecutors said. Reed and Rabey watched the killing, and then helped Vandenberg drag the body to a nearby ditch. Smith’s clothes were burned.

    At Tuesday morning’s sentencing hearing, a judge asked Vandenberg whether he wanted to say anything. He declined. None of the roughly 15 people present in the courtroom offered victim impact testimony.

    Hunter Smith’s mother, Heather A. Smith, of Harrisburg, Oregon, told the Statesman on Tuesday that she got a letter about the plea deal but didn’t know her son’s killer was being sentenced today. She said she thought the sentencing was in October.

    “I wasn’t going to be able to make it because of my work schedule, but I would have liked to have been called to give a victim impact statement,” Smith told the Statesman.

    Jeffery Phillips, who has been the Owyhee County prosecuting attorney for just more than a month, said he could find no record that the sentencing was previously scheduled for October.

    Smith said she might have asked the judge to require Vandenberg and his co-conspirators to write a letter every year to Hunter Smith’s 3-year-old daughter, explaining why they killed her son.

    “The idea is to have them remember that there was a child involved who doesn’t get to grow up with her her father,” Smith said. “There’s been a lot of things I’ve thought about asking the judge to do. I thought that seemed the most reasonable.”

    Hunter Smith was born in Oregon, and that’s where he lived just before the killing, but he also spent many years in Florida, his mother said. He dropped out of high school in the 10th grade but earned his GED. He was an artist/illustrator, a storyteller and an aspiring rapper.

    “He could have been the next Eminem. That was his hero,” his mother said. “He was trying to get into a recording studio but couldn’t get the funding to get in.”

    DNA tests confirmed that the body found in the desert in October of 2017 was, in fact, Hunter Smith. His mother didn’t receive his remains until February, she said, and on the second anniversary of his death they memorialized him with a balloon release in Harrisburg.

    “With notes to heaven,” she said.

    https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/...234432752.html

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    Idaho man sentenced to 26 years for accessory to murder in 18-year-old’s killing

    By Ruth Brown
    Idaho Statesman

    A district judge on Friday sentenced Willie Rabey to 26 years in prison for his role in the killing of 18-year-old hitchhiker Hunter Smith in 2017.

    Rabey, 35, of Mountain Home, pleaded guilty in February to accessory to first-degree murder, evidence destruction and failure to notify of a death. Smith’s body was found in the desert of eastern Owyhee County by hunters on Oct. 21, 2017.

    Third Judicial District Judge Davis VanderVelde in Owyhee County ordered that Rabey could be eligible for parole after 11 years are served, according to online court records. Rabey will be credited for the time he already served in jail since his arrest.

    Rabey’s co-defendant, Nicholas Vandenberg, 28, of Melba, fired the shots that killed Smith, and he was sentenced in August to 30 years to life in prison for first-degree murder.

    A third co-defendant in the case, Montanna Reed, 21, of Twin Falls, awaits sentencing after she pleaded guilty to criminal conspiracy and failure to notify authorities of a death.

    Prosecutors previously said the trio befriended Smith and then invited him to shoot guns. The group planned to commit other criminal acts in the future, including murder, the charging documents alleged.

    Vandenberg shot Smith at close range in the upper torso and face/head with a .45-caliber pistol, prosecutors said. Reed and Rabey reportedly watched the killing, and then helped Vandenberg drag the body to a nearby ditch. Smith’s clothes were burned.

    Reed is set for sentencing on Dec. 18 in Owyhee County.

    https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/...238113714.html

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    Idaho woman sentenced to 15 years in killing of teenage hitchhiker in 2017

    By Ximena Bustillo
    Idaho Statesman

    A 22-year-old woman was sentenced to 15 years in prison this week for her role in the murder of a teenage hitchhiker in 2017.

    Montanna Reed, 22, of Twin Falls, will be eligible for parole after five years and will receive credit for the two years she has served, 3rd District Judge Susan Wiebe ruled. Reed had pleaded guilty to charges of criminal conspiracy and failure to notify authorities of a death.

    Hunter Smith, 18, was hitchhiking and on his way to Nebraska in the summer of 2017 when he was befriended by a trio of people, including Reed, and invited to shoot guns. His body was found in the desert of eastern Owyhee County by hunters on Oct. 21, 2017.

    Two men involved in the murder have already been sentenced in the case: Nicholas Vandenberg and Willie K. Rabey.

    Vandenberg, 28, of Melba, fired the shots that killed Smith, and he was sentenced in August to 30 years to life in prison for first-degree murder. Rabey, 35, of Mountain Home, was sentenced to 26 years in prison after pleading guilty in February to accessory to first-degree murder, evidence destruction and failure to notify of a death.

    https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/...238522223.html

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