Ammon man bound over to district court on murder charges

IDAHO FALLS — A 20-year-old man facing a first-degree murder charge in the death of an Ammon woman earlier this year appeared in court Friday.

During Friday’s preliminary hearing, the prosecution called several witnesses to testify about Jameion Hernandez’s alleged involvement in the murder of Lisa Stukey.

Tristan Furrows, 20, a friend of Hernandez was called on to testify. He said a few days after the murder occurred, Hernandez told him what he had done and showed Furrows the murder weapon.

He described it as a pink aluminum Louisville Slugger bat. Detective Zebulon Graham, who also testified, described that bat as purple with a black handle.

Furrows said at first he wasn’t sure if he believed Hernandez until Hernandez showed Furrows a bag of items he stole from Stukey’s home.

Furrows said he helped Hernandez hide the bat in the Wildlife Management Area near Roberts.

He said it was Hernandez’s idea to hide the bat, but Furrows drove him to the spot near Roberts where Hernandez proceeded to throw the bat into a small body of water.

Furrows initially withheld information from police when he was first interviewed in July; however, after further interviews, he did eventually tell police that Hernandez told him about the murder.

Furrows said Hernandez told Furrows he did it because he was angry with Stukey over a relationship she had with his grandfather.

Bonneville County Sheriff Detective Korey Payne testified Furrows eventually led him to where Hernandez threw the bat. Authorities were then able to recover the bat.

During his testimony, Dr. Charles Garison, the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy on Stukey’s body, said her wounds were consistent with those caused by a baseball bat.

Throughout the preliminary hearing, Bonneville County Prosecutor Daniel Clark called various people to the stand, including a friend of Stukey who called the police after witnessing the back door of Stukey’s house had been broken into. Other law enforcement personnel were called to the stand as well.

Hernandez’s defense did not choose to call any witnesses during the preliminary hearing.

Hernandez is scheduled to be arraigned for first-degree murder Dec. 5 in Bonneville County.