An 85-year-old Idaho lady shot and killed an intruder in her home in what a county prosecutor known as “one of the most heroic acts of self-preservation I have ever heard of.”
Bingham County Prosecutor Ryan Jolley, in a case evaluation, stated that the girl, recognized Wednesday as Christine Jenneiahn, acted in self-defense and dominated it used to be a case of justifiable murder.
“That Christine survived this encounter is truly incredible,” Jolley wrote in the evaluation. “Her grit, determination, and will to live appear to be what saved her that night.”
According to the evaluation, posted on Facebook by way of the Bingham County Sheriff’s Office, an intruder, recognized as Derek Condon, broke into Jenneiahn’s home on March 13 at round 2 a.m.
Jenneiahn instructed prosecutors she used to be asleep in her Bingham County home on the time of the break-in when she used to be awoken by way of an intruder who used to be dressed in an army jacket and black ski masks and used to be pointing a gun and flashlight at her.
She stated her disabled son used to be additionally home on the time.
The evaluation says that Condon most probably hit Jenneiahn in her head whilst she used to be in mattress, since Jenneiahn stated she’d been hit and since investigators discovered blood on her pillow and at the flooring of her bed room.
Condon then handcuffed Jenneiahn and took her to the lounge at gunpoint, in step with the evaluation. Once there, he handcuffed her to a picket chair and requested about her valuables. When she stated she did not have a lot, he put his gun to her head, the evaluation stated.
According to the evaluation, Jenneiahn instructed Condon she had two safes downstairs. He left her handcuffed in the lounge as he regarded via a number of rooms of her home in seek of her valuables, prosecutors stated.
“At some point,” the evaluation states, “he discovered that Christine’s son was also in the home and became angry at Christine for not telling him.”
Condon then began to make a lot of threats that he sought after to kill Jenneiahn, in step with the evaluation.
While Condon used to be looking out the downstairs of Jenneiahn’s home, she dragged the picket chair to which she used to be handcuffed into her bed room and grabbed her .357 Magnum revolver from underneath her pillow, the evaluation stated. Once again in the lounge, Jenneiahn concealed the gun between the armrest and cushion as she “waited to see what Condon did next.”
“Christine’s memory of exactly what occurred next remains somewhat unclear,” in step with the evaluation.
Jenneiahn instructed prosecutors that someday, when Condon returned to the lounge after rummaging via her home, he once more threatened to kill her.
“She ultimately made the decision that it was ‘now or never’ and drew her concealed 357 magnum and engaged Condon striking him with both her shots,” the evaluation stated.
Condon returned hearth, hanging Jenneiahn more than one instances in her stomach, leg, arm and chest with a 9mm pistol, in step with the evaluation. Condon went to the kitchen, the place he died from the gunshot wounds.
Jenneiahn, nonetheless handcuffed, fell over and remained at the flooring for roughly 10 hours till her son got here upstairs in the past due morning and gave her a telephone to name 911. Deputies spoke back at roughly 12:17 p.m., the evaluation stated.
EastIdahoNews.com reported that Jenneiahn used to be taken to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls following the assault. She has since been launched and is recuperating, in step with the hole.
Subsequent investigation of Jenneiahn’s home grew to become up a damaged window in the again of the place of dwelling and a screwdriver close to the place Condon broke into the home, in step with the evaluation. On his frame, Condon had a lock pick out set, his automobile key, a handcuff key and a bag stuffed with pieces stolen from the home.
Condon’s automobile used to be additionally discovered close to the home, in step with the evaluation, and a suite of footprints main from the car in the course of the home had been came upon.
Based on Idaho’s self-defense legislation, which states, “No person in this state shall be placed in legal jeopardy of any kind whatsoever for protecting himself,” Jolley dominated the killing justifiable.
“This case presents an easy analysis of self-defense and justifiable homicide,” Jolley wrote in the evaluation. “It also presents one of the most heroic acts of self-preservation I have ever heard of.”
Jolley added: “Absent a clear attempt by Condon to retreat from the residence or surrender, which based on the evidence clearly did not occur, Christine was justified in taking any and all means necessary to defend herself and her son that night.”