Lemhi County man found not guilty of shooting

SALMON, Idaho (KIFI) — A jury found a Lemhi County veterinarian not guilty of shooting a 13-year-old boy.

Jeffrey Hoffman was charged with voluntary manslaughter, aggravated battery, and felony enhancement of a deadly weapon after a shooting injured a 13-year-old boy.

Following a two-day trial, the jury acquitted Hoffman on all charges on October 2.

The shooting occurred on March 13 at Hoffman’s home in Lemhi County. According to witnesses, Ronald Benjamin Jenkins came to Hoffman’s home to retrieve his belongings, but Hoffman went into the house and came out with a gun.

The two began to argue, and shots were fired.

One of the shots hit Jenkins’ 13-year-old son, Wyatt Reese, in the thumb.

According to Hoffman’s attorney, Chip Gyles, the jury felt that Jenkins provoked the attack, which led to the shots.

Jenkins was also arrested for disturbing the peace, malicious injury to property, and battery. According to court documents, he pleaded guilty to those charges in April and was sentenced to unsupervised probation for 24 months.

Editor's Note: Since the case has been resolved, the family asked us to remove the submitted video post, which we determined was appropriate.