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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