Jury finds Brad Compher guilty of Nori Jones’ death
POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI) - UPDATE 3:22 p.m.: A Bannock County jury has found Brady Compher guilty of first-degree murder. It took the jury four hours to come to a convict.
Compher is accused of the stabbing death of Nori Jones. She was found dead in her home on September 28, 2004.
The jury heard closing arguments this morning.
The Prosecution focused on the DNA evidence from Nori’s sexual assault kit and a fingerprint on a window that had the screen cut out. Police believed this was the point of entry to the house the night of the murder. Brad Comphers DNA was found on that window frame with a 1 in 93 trillion chance that it was anyone else.
The defense claimed the DNA evidence was flawed and several items were not tested from the scene that should have been. They also tried to blame another person, Robert Spillett, who was another person of interest in the case.
Compher will be sentenced on April 30, 2024.
ORIGINAL STORY: The fate of Brad Compher is now in the hands of the Jury.
Closing arguments finished Monday morning in the Brad Compher trial at the Bannock County Courthouse.
Jonathan Radford from the prosecution started his closing arguments by asking the jury to use common sense while considering all the evidence.
Radford explains Brad Compher found out where Nori Jones lived, how he tampered with the light on her back porch so it would not work, and then returned and cut the screen to her back window, climbed on a trash can to enter her home, and raped and stabbed her to death.
He pointed to the DNA match on a fingerprint on the window that was a match to Brad Compher. That match is less than 1 in 93 Trillion it is anyone but Compher.
Nori was stabbed 17 times in her trunk alone.
Radford tells the jury not to be confused by the Y chromosome DNA Evidence. The Y chromosome evidence from Nori’s rape kit was a match to Brad Compher.
Radford showed some graphic pictures of the murder scene.
Gary Proctor gave the closing statements for the defense. He talked about reasonable doubt. He said there are plenty of reasons Compher is innocent. He said in Doug Coffin’s testimony, Brad went to Nori's house to get a drink when he was helping Coffin with some work.
To explain the fingerprint evidence, Proctor points to the fact there is no blood on the fingerprints.
Proctor is attempting to poke holes in the DNA evidence by saying the crime scene was contaminated. “The single most troubling piece of evidence for the state is they found at least 2 male contributors," Proctor said. "It wasn’t Reo, her boyfriend at the time. So, who was the other sperm portion of the DNA?", he questioned.
"They messed up the crime scene," Proctor said. "She wasn’t promiscuous, so how are there two contributors of DNA in her sexual assault kit?"
"They missed the ring. How do you miss that?" Proctor said. "The evidence in this case is so deeply flawed.”
Proctor goes on about how much evidence was taken from the scene but was not tested.
Proctor standing close to the jury said “Why was the blood DNA on the doorknob not tested?" "They didn’t take cigarette butts from outside. They didn’t test the sheets. They took the carpet why didn’t they test it?" Proctor continued. "They took the bedspread with 5 puncture wounds why didn’t they test that? You name it, they took it, they didn’t test it. That’s reasonable doubt, folks,” Proctor said.
The prosecution gave their rebuttal in the closing arguments. Radford pointed to the fact no evidence was ever given that any of the DNA or fingerprint evidence was contaminated. He said the defense is trying to deflect the attention with the accusation of Robert Spillett. Radford reminds the jury that none of the DNA testing at the crime scene ever belonged to Robert Spillett. He says there is not one piece of evidence that belongs to Spillett at the crime scene.
The jury went into deliberations at 11 a.m.
This story is developing and is being updated throughout the day.
You can view our previous story HERE.
