Suspect charged in Wolfe murder case
COEUR d’ALENE — The first-degree murder charge stands.
Last week, First District Judge Benjamin Simpson refused to accept a downgraded charge of voluntary manslaughter for defendant Juan Carlos Villanueva, who is accused of shooting Timothy I. Williams (Wolfe) in the early morning hours of May 9 after an altercation inside Mik n Mac’s bar in downtown Coeur d’Alene.
Defense attorneys for Villanueva, 22, have 14 days to enter a plea.
A jury trial would be scheduled within six months should Villanueva plead not guilty.
Prosecuting Attorney Barry McHugh said the killing was planned and intentional.
“What happened then is what (Villanueva) expected,” McHugh said during closing arguments. “Even if he didn’t know exactly what would happen driving up Third Street, he was ready for what happened.”
The defense later requested the charge be reduced to voluntary manslaughter, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. First-degree murder is punishable by life in prison or the death penalty. Simpson sided with the state, saying it had proven Villanueva killed Wolfe in a “willful deliberate and premeditated fashion.”
Two days of testimony and police interviews gathered from witnesses inside and outside Mik n Mac’s before, during and after the shooting varied only slightly at times, with the initial confrontation between Wolfe and his friends and Villanueva and his girlfriend, Alba Martinez, beginning over a pair of drinks.
Wolfe’s friend, James Samuels, and Corrina Hendrickx appeared the aggressors during two arguments inside the bar, and after the second argument, Villanueva and Martinez left.
A toxicology report indicated Wolfe’s blood alcohol level was .14, nearly twice the legal limit, and he had tested positive for marijuana — the most sober results between Wolfe and his friends, defense attorneys said.
Witnesses said Villanueva was driving up and down Third Street at least three times looking for Wolfe and Samuels. Dustin Gannon testified earlier that Villanueva tried to recruit him and his friend to come along to help the suspect with a fight.
Villanueva sat slumped in his red and white prison suit at the defense table, rarely looking at witnesses as they testified.
On Friday, Martinez said when Villanueva later returned to her apartment, he admitted to fighting with the victim and Samuels, and he said he had pulled the gun and fired one round, which he believed struck Wolfe.
Wednesday’s testimony picked up again at Martinez’s apartment after Villanueva’s return, where he apparently showered and wiped down his car “for bullet dust.”
He also peeled off the white decal sticker of a giant “A” from his back windshield, a marker witnesses used to describe the suspect’s two-door Honda.
“I’d look like a (coward),” Villanueva reportedly told police investigator Todd Hedge when Hedge asked why the suspect didn’t drive away to avoid the final confrontation.
Villanueva originally told Hedge he went back into Coeur d’Alene to pick up his friend “Mikey,” who did not appear in court. He also said he wanted to make peace with his aggressors. But further interrogation suggested Villanueva was looking to get even with Wolfe and his friends.
“They shouldn’t have hit my girl and I did it for respect,” he reportedly said.