Kenai jury acquits in 2022 murder case

A jury in Kenai acquitted a man of murder last week.

Nathan Penrod, 30, of Soldotna was found not guilty on all seven charges he subsequently faced He fatally shoots his roommateZechariah Bowman, in 2022. In total, Penrod faced one count of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of third-degree assault, one count of tampering with evidence and one count of manslaughter.

Friday's verdict capped a 23-day trial in which prosecutors had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Penrod both intended to kill Bowman and did not act in self-defense. Penrod's lawyers argued he had acted in self-defense.

Andy Pevehouse is Penrod's lawyer. He says Penrod's case was the first time he represented a defendant charged with murder in court. When the jury returned the verdict, he said Penrod was emotional.

“He was crying,” Pevehouse said. “I almost cried. It was just relief. Just relief.”

According to charging documents, Penrod called 9-1-1 and said he shot his roommate after he threatened to kill him. Soldotna 911 dispatch received a call from the scene of the shooting the same day. Investigators later learned that the abandoned call had been made by Penrod's ex-fiancée, who was in the house at the time of the shooting. The ex-fiancée said Penrod threatened to kill her and pointed the gun at her. She ran out of the house and was picked up by a neighbor who called 9-1-1.

At trial, prosecutors argued that Penrod “hunted” Bowman and his ex-fiancée in the hours before the shooting. They entered records of Penrod's Internet browsing history, which included looking for ways to silence a gunshot just before it reached the house and killed Bowman.

Prosecutors also accused Penrod of planting a revolver at the crime scene to make it appear he was acting in self-defense. They called in forensic scientists to argue that the revolver was in a pool of blood to provide evidence based on flow patterns. The jury could see the revolver lying on a flat surface and observe the space in between.

During closing arguments, Justin Works, along with the Kenai District Attorney's Office, reiterated the state's position that Bowman's death was intentional.

“Zach Bowman wasn’t just killed,” Works said. “He was hunted. When he left this room on the morning of March 29, 2022, it was the culmination of a plan. This was the culmination of hours of planning.”

Pevehouse's team argued that Penrod did not know that his ex-fiancé and Bowman had begun a sexual relationship when he returned home. He said Penrod responded to Bowman and said he was going to kill him. He tried to discredit the credibility of the ex-fiancée's testimony, saying she and Bowman did everything they could to hide their relationship from Penrod.

Pevehouse also argued that crime scene investigators did not use all the tools at their disposal to determine whether the upward-facing side of the revolver had traces of blood. And he says the state can't prove that Penrod's internet search history came from the night before the shooting.

“What happened to Zach Bowman is a tragedy,” Pevehouse said during the defense’s closing argument. “Every death is a tragedy. I'm not telling you that Nathan Penrod is a hero. I'm not here to tell you that Zach Bowman is a villain. But Nathan Penrod told you what happened that night – or that day – and the evidence fully supports his statement.”

On Thursday, Pevehouse said the case came down to the question “Why?”

“There was never any dispute about Mr. Penrod shooting Mr. Bowman,” he said. “That is not the reason he was acquitted. This wasn't a who did it. It was just a question: Why did this shooting happen?”

He said verdicts are “always a surprise,” but questions asked by jurors during their deliberations showed which way they were leaning.

“Reading jurors’ facial expressions is usually like reading tea leaves,” he said. “It’s very difficult to predict what a jury will think.”

On Thursday, Works — along with the DA's office — asked via email to answer questions about the ruling. In a statement on behalf of the state of Alaska, he said they respect the jury's verdict.

“The state is satisfied that we make a very compelling case that is supported by the evidence,” he said. “But ultimately the state had to bear two extremely high burdens in this case.”

Works said the verdict shows the jury unanimously agreed that the state could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Penrod intentionally killed Bowman. Added to this is the omission refute There was no reasonable doubt that Penrod had acted in self-defense.