Idaho Falls man sentenced for voluntary manslaughter
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RIGBY — An Idaho Falls man was sentenced Tuesday for fatally shooting a 72-year-old man at a Jefferson County home.
District Judge Stevan Thompson sentenced Jesse Gentle to a total of 15 years, with a fixed term of 12 years and a three-year indeterminate period to follow. Gentle previously pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter on Oct. 19.
“I don’t really know what to say other than I’m real sorry to everybody affected and the family. Everything that’s been a consequence of what I’ve done,” Gentle said at his sentencing. “I’m going to have to live with what I’ve done for the rest of my life. I wish I could take it back. I really apologize to everybody here today.”
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office was called to a house on Nov. 17, 2020, and found Merle Jay Sorensen’s body in a bathroom. He had been shot in the head and investigators believe Gentle tried to use bleach to clean up the crime scene.
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Gentle and Sorensen had been staying with Gentle’s aunt and the two reportedly smoked marijuana over the weekend. Gentle was also seen injecting himself with a substance but his aunt did not know what it was. An autopsy showed Sorensen had traces of methamphetamine in his system, but it could not be determined when he last used it.
“Jesse Gentle took my uncle from our family. He ripped one of the most peaceful, loving, caring, and comprehensive people that has ever been known in just a matter of minutes,” said one of Sorensen’s nephews at the sentencing. “It takes an enormous amount of hate for someone to shoot someone. That person doesn’t have a reverence for life.”
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Gentle has the right to appeal the sentence. Thompson had said restitution will be decided at a later time. At the sentencing, he discussed that drug addiction is a big issue that faces the courts.
“This is what this case really is about—the ravages of drug addiction and what it does to people. It’s something we fight in the courts every day. Ninety percent of the cases I handle in court are all drug cases. We try to work through people that are dealing with drug addictions to avoid what’s happened in this case,” Thompson said.