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Show Vernal man guilty of assault Forest G. Buel was found guilty of aggravated assault and possession of a weapon by a restricted person in Seventh District Court Tuesday, May 10. The jury had earlier in the day, at about 4:45 p.m., left the courtroom to enter deliberation. They returned at about 7:30 p.m. to hand down the verdicts. The case resulted from a January 19 incident in Vernal involving Glen Barry Dunn. The original charge was attempted murder in the second degree. Judge Richard Davidson told the jury if they could not come to a verdict ver-dict of attempted murder they could then consider the lesser charge. Buel was charged with beating Dunn over the head with a heavy flashlight and later shooting Dunn four times with a .22 caliber handgun, a charge Buel does not deny. He claims the shooting was a result of self defense. Dunn later recovered. In closing, prosecuting attorney Mark Nash recounted events leading up to the shooting, which Buel does not deny. What Buel said is that he shot Dunn because an imminent danger was posed to himself and out of fear, he resorted to the weapon. Nash told the jury that the argument of Buel is shadowed with doubt by events leading up to the incident. According to Nash, evidence of the trial showed that Dunn was at the home of Buel on Jan. 19, having drinks when Dunn became rowdy. Buel asked ask-ed him to leave, and when Dunn would not, proceeded to hit him over the head several times with a large heavy flashlight, opening the skull of Dunn. Buel then picked up a claw hammer and threatened Dunn again, at which time the two men left the house to see if they could resolve their differences. Conflicting testimony by witnesses clouded the trial. Nash said the evidence showed that just prior to the shooting. Buel left the scene, went to his bedroom, then up a ladder to a loft, where he btcsoned Dunn to follow. Dunn did, and when Dunn reached the loft Buel shot him with a handgun. Nash said that even as Dunn retreated, Buel continued to fire at him, actually shooting down at him from above as Dunn reached the floor. Nash said Buel then reloaded the weapon, although he fired no more bullets. Defense attorney Lance Wilkerson contradicted the way Nash recounted some of the events. In a self-defense situation it must be shown that the aggressor ag-gressor removed himself from the situation prior to the incident. Since Buel had been the aggressor, it was necessary for him to remove himself from the situation, which Wilkerson said he did by retreating to his own bedroom, and then up the ladder to the loft. Wilkerson asked the jury to consider con-sider how much further a person can retreat than to his own bedroom. Wilkerson said the only reason Buel got the gun was because he was afraid of Dunn. He said testimony during the trial showed that Dunn is a violent person, per-son, and since Buel was acquainted with him, he knew of this tendency, and therefore was rightfully afraid. Continued on page 2 Murder... Continued from page 1 the Vernal area. Vernal police felt the suspect was headed to the Salt Lake area and had road blocks in Heber. Downard said his capture was a concentrated con-centrated effort with all law enforcement enforce-ment agencies including Anchorage, Alaska police who provided background information on the suspect. ' Tuesday after the arrest of the suspect, police were looking for the weapon used in the incident which the suspect said he lost while sleeping in a draw at U Hill. Devinney is also charged with illegally il-legally carrying a firearm. He is in the Uintah County Jail on no bail. |