Man sentenced for 2004 murder of 25-year-old Pocatello woman
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POCATELLO — A 50-year-old man was sentenced Thursday for a brutal murder that happened more than 20 years ago.
District Judge Javier Gabiola sentenced Brad Compher to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 2004 stabbing murder of 25-year-old Nori Jones.
Gabiola did not grant EastIdahoNews.com’s request to record the sentencing, but we were allowed to take still photos.
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Compher was found guilty of the first-degree murder of Jones after an eight-day murder trial last March.
On the morning of Sept. 28, 2004, Jones, a Pocatello native, was found stabbed to death in her home. The jury determined that evidence proved, beyond a reasonable doubt, Compher killed Jones in the act of burglary, rape or both.
Compher was arrested in 2014 after advances in DNA analysis technology determined his DNA was at the scene. According to testimony from multiple forensic experts, Compher’s fingerprints were found on an exterior door at Jones’ home. Additional experts testified that Compher’s DNA was on a window investigators determined to be the entry point used by the murderer to gain access to the home, as well as Jones’ sexual assault examination and a ring she was wearing at the time of the murder.
Sentencing
The hearing began with a victim impact statement from Jones’ sister, Lisa Swallow, who told the court that Jones had a bright future ahead of her, but it was senselessly ripped away by Compher, who was unknown to the family.
“Nori was always meant to have her own family, to be a wife and have children of her own. She would’ve been a great mom,” said Swallow. “Today, she would have over 30 nieces and nephews that she never got to know, and who never got to know her.”
Swallow continued, explaining the fear that she and her family went through for 10 years until Compher was arrested in 2014.
“I have to push back the fear that was instilled in me so that I can live a normal life. I was scared of the dark and being alone after my sister’s murder. My doors are always locked,” said Swallow. “Birthdays are the hardest for me, to know that I’m another year older, and she will forever be 25.”
Compher’s public defender, Gary Proctor, then spoke to the court, declining to give a specific sentencing recommendation and instead using his time to tell the court about Compher’s low intelligence and asking that his client be able to eventually “see life outside a prison cell.”
“Mr. Compher turned 50 just two weeks ago. This one crime was more than 20 years ago, and the arrest was 10 and a half years ago,” said Proctor. “In that decade of time, what’s really remarkable is he was only arrested for alcohol and traffic offenses.”
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Proctor told the court that Compher struggles with schizophrenia, a low verbal IQ, and other intelligence disabilities, stating at one point that instead of talking about his case, he “preferred to spend his time talking about Hot Wheels, origami and drawing.”
“Why did he spend more than a decade in prison? It was related to his intellectual disability and competency,” said Proctor. “All this to say, Mr. Compher is a man with profound disability.”
Compher then spoke to the court, denying his own public defender’s claims that he has an intellectual disability and continuing to say he did not kill or know Jones.
“You guys think this is a joke and you guys think this is a game, and um, you’re ruining my life. I didn’t do this crime,” said Compher. “I don’t like cops. I don’t like judges. I don’t like anybody in this room. … I didn’t know this lady. I’m not gonna pretend I did. This is crap.”
Bannock County Assistant Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Radford argued that Compher should be given nothing less than life in prison without the possibility of parole due to the heinous details of the crime and the fact he has never shown remorse or admitted to the crime.
“We’re here on a case where a young woman was brutally murdered while she was sleeping in her bed behind locked doors. The bar is not so high in understanding that that behavior was wrong,” said Radford. “If we polled any 4-year-old in the community, they would say it’s wrong to go into a house and murder and rape somebody.”
Radford said he had never seen a case like the murder of Nori Jones.
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“I’ve been on a number of homicide cases, and I’ve not seen anywhere the evidence was as brutal as it was in this case,” said Radford. “Some of the detectives and officers that took the stand, some 20 years after responding to the scene, had difficulty recounting what they saw in that bedroom. One of the officers broke down in tears. … This was a horrific, brutal and depraved act.”
Before ruling, Gabiola thanked Jones’ family for supporting her in court.
“I want to thank the members of Nori Jones’ family that are here today,” said Gabiola. “This is a very difficult situation for you, and for that reason, I thank you for being here today.”
He then spoke to Compher, noting that he is a risk to society and has never apologized or taken accountability for Jones’ murder.
“You entered Nori Jones’ home, you stabbed her 22 times, multiple times to the chest and abdomen, five times to the head, you cut her neck on both times, so severely, she died,” said Gabiola. “”You ended Nori’s life at the beginning of it. You took that away from her. You took her away from her family. There is no question about that.”
In closing, Gabiola addressed Compher’s future, and compared it to the one he took away from Jones.
“I find that you have no remorse, Mr. Compher. You continue to claim that you did nothing wrong, and that is very telling,” said Gabiola. “I sincerely hope that you have some sort of life while you’re incarcerated. It will certainly be more than what Nori has.”
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