Second trial begins for man accused of murder behind Planet Fitness
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UPDATE: Idaho Falls jury finds Jake Eilander not guilty of murder
IDAHO FALLS – Jake Eilander is again standing trial for murder after his original trial was canceled due to a COVID-19 outbreak.
Eilander, 37, was indicted on a charge of second-degree murder on June 16, 2022, after allegedly shooting and killing 44-year-old Ulises Rangel behind Planet Fitness in Idaho Falls.
He started a trial in November 2022, but that was vacated after he and several court personnel became sick. The trial was ultimately rescheduled to start this week.
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Jury selection was Monday, and opening arguments started Tuesday. During the proceedings, Eilander spent a lot of time smiling at his attorneys and listening to testimony intently.
The state argued Eilander killed Rangel without justification but also stressed it was not a premeditated murder.
The defense argued the case was quite simple. Ulises walked up to Eilander, unprovoked ,and began to yell profanities. Eilander felt threatened for himself and his girlfriend, held out a gun and told Ulises to stop. When he did not, Eilander shot him.
“Jake sees two clenched fists, and he’s spewing profanity at Jake and his girlfriend,” said defense attorney Alexander Sosa. “This individual (Rangel) turns around, goes back to Jake’s trailer, takes off his hoodie, sets it on Jake’s trailer and approaches Jake again, two clenched fists, spewing profanity. Anybody, anybody would have protected themselves, too.”
Many witnesses testified, including Courtney Van Brunt, who was a resident of the nearby apartments at the time of the shooting.
Van Brunt described hearing a gunshot while she was in her apartment and running to the balcony to see what was going on. When she looked down from her balcony, she saw that a little girl had fallen off her bike.
“When I went outside, I approached the girl just to make sure everything was fine,” said Van Brunt. “As I was making sure the little girl was okay, two adults walked into the road.”
She identified the two people as Eilander and his girlfriend, Brandy Carlson, Van Brunt’s neighbor in the apartment building.
Carlson reportedly walked over to tend to the little girl, so Van Brunt went inside her apartment. Later, police contacted her to see if her Ring Doorbell captured any important footage of Eilander that day.
Jurors saw the Ring footage of Eilander leaving the apartment and Carlson and Eilander returning. It is unclear what time this footage was recorded.
More important testimony came from Jessica Hunting, the woman who found Rangel’s body in the parking lot behind Planet Fitness.
Hunting detailed the circumstances leading up to and following the discovery of the body, saying she was dropping her child off at a nearby dojo when she saw something she will remember forever.
“We noticed there was a gentleman lying on the ground,” said Hunting. “I rolled my window down, pulled right up to him, and yelled, ‘Sir!’ a couple of times to see if he would move. There was no response at that time, but there was blood.”
Hunting says she pulled her car over to call 911 and reported the dead body.
The audio of the 911 call was played in court. Jurors heard a distressed Hunting report she had came across a “man laying on the ground who has blood all over his pants.”
At one point, she tells dispatch she cannot see his chest rising before law enforcement gets there and takes over the scene.
Hunting told the court she did not want to get out of her car to check on the man, as she had her two-year-old with her, and did not feel safe leaving her in the car without knowing the circumstances of what had occurred.
Officer Ryan Picard with the Idaho Falls Police Department testified as well, saying he was first on the scene after Hunting’s 911 call.
The jurors were shown a video from Picard’s patrol vehicle of the moments slightly before and after he arrived on the scene.
Picard is seen exiting his truck and checking a body for a pulse. He doesn’t find one, but does find a bullet hole in Rangel’s chest.
“At this point, this is when I felt it was suspicious,” said Picard. “I contacted my supervisors, along with detectives, and they were en route to the scene.”
The video shows EMS arriving and declaring the person deceased, refraining from conducting any life-saving measures.
Picard then explained some context of the circumstances after finding the body. He said there was a blood trail leading from where Rangel was found to the side of Eilander’s truck.
Throughout the rest of the day, jurors saw drone footage and scans of the crime scene, depicting that Eilander’s truck was near four other vehicles in front of which the body was found.
The trial is scheduled to continue on Wednesday at 9 am.