Okanogan, Washington

From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer of August 31, 2006

Man acquitted in fatal shooting in Oroville

A man who insisted that he acted in self-defense when he shot another man to death at the home of a mutual friend has been found innocent on all charges after 17 months in jail.

"The grass never smelled so good," Jeremy I. Todd, 26, told The Wenatchee World on Monday after leaving Okanogan County Superior Court a free man.

Todd was charged with second-degree murder in the shooting of Martin B. Hernandez, 40, at a home in Oroville on March 3, 2005, and Prosecutor Karl F. Sloan asked the jury to find him guilty of first- or second-degree manslaughter if the panel rejected the more serious charge.

Instead, facing as much as 23 years in prison if convicted of murder, Todd was found innocent of all charges.

Todd and Hernandez apparently argued at a bar before returning separately to the residence where the shooting occurred. In his call to 911 immediately after the shooting. Todd said he was sleeping on the couch when Hernandez took his blanket and punched him in the face.

In the call and on the witness stand he said he opened fire with a rifle only after being attacked and cornered.

Sloan argued that Todd made an "irrational and unreasonable" decision to grab, load and fire the gun, and the prosecutor also questioned his account.

While in jail with bail set at $100,000, Todd missed the birth of his son Joey, now 11 months old, as well as his first and second wedding anniversaries, but he told the newspaper he was not bitter.

"I feel bad for leaving all my friends in the (jail's) C Tank," he said. "They're like brothers to me now."