Man sentenced for 2022 shooting near Idaho Falls LDS temple
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IDAHO FALLS – A 25-year-old man was sentenced on Tuesday for his role in a 2022 shootout near The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple in Idaho Falls.
District Judge Michael Whyte sentenced Frederick Marshall Free for the felony charge to three to six years in prison. Whyte then suspended the sentence and placed Free on probation for four years.
Free will also be required to complete 100 hours of community service, spend 60 days in local jail with credit for six days of time served, and pay $1,000 in court costs and fines.
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Free could also potentially serve 180 days of discretionary jail time.
For the misdemeanor charges, Free was sentenced to six months of local jail time that was suspended due to both sentences being served concurrently. He will also be required to pay $597 in court costs and fines.
In July 2022, Free initially pleaded not guilty to felony aggravated assault and misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance.
In October 2023, Free signed a plea agreement where he agreed to plead guilty to both charges, and the prosecution agreed to recommend a minimum of one and a half years and a maximum of four and a half years in prison at sentencing.
The plea agreement was not binding on the court, meaning Whyte did not have to agree to either party’s recommendations for sentencing.
Background of the case
Idaho Falls Police were dispatched to an area near the Idaho Falls Temple on Memorial Drive on May 8, 2020, around 8 p.m.
According to court documents, officers were told there was a shooting and everyone involved had already run away. The man who had been shot, later identified as Austin James Kuck, was already at the Idaho Falls Community Hospital with a gunshot wound to the hand.
Officers identified Free as the person who had shot Kuck and the person who called the police.
When police interviewed Kuck, he told them he was suspicious of his ex-girlfriend and Free. He said he thought they had broken into his home.
He confronted the two and found his DVR in Free’s truck. While Kuck and Free were arguing, Free pulled out a gun, Kuck later told police.
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Kuck said, “Are you going to shoot me?” to which Free responded, “Yes,” and shot him in the hand.
Kuck told police he ran back to his car, and Free drove away. Kuck returned to his home, and a friend drove him to the hospital.
When officers interviewed Free, they were given a similar version of the story.
Free told police that Kuck threw the DVR at his truck. When officers asked him if Kuck had a weapon, Free said he “could not say that he did.”
According to Kuck’s ex-girlfriend, who was with Free, Kuck fired “five or six shots” at the truck as they drove away from the area. Police went back to the hospital to interview Kuck again, where they told him there was camera footage of the shooting.
Kuck told police that he “didn’t really want to say anything, but if there was video, then he would say it was self-defense.” The officer told Kuck that self-defense did not apply since the truck was driving away from him and he was not in imminent danger.
The next day, officers served a search warrant at a home in Idaho Falls where Free was believed to be staying. They discovered fentanyl in the bedroom, and Free, along with the ex-girlfriend, were charged with felony possession of a controlled substance.
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Kuck was sentenced in April to a minimum of five and a maximum of 15 years in prison.