The two-month murder trial of a Soldotna man concluded on Friday with a not-guilty verdict. Soldotna resident Nathan Penrod was acquitted of all charges in the 2022 shooting death of fellow Soldotna resident and roommate, 29-year-old Zechariah Bowman.
On Mar. 29, 2022, then 28-year-old Penrod shot and killed Bowman after an altercation at Bowman’s residence that began with a dispute over Penrod’s ex-fiance, Karlie Self. At the time, Penrod had been sub-letting a room from Bowman, and that morning he had discovered Self had spent the night with Bowman.
After the shooting had occurred, Self called 9-1-1 and reported her ex-fiancé Penrod had shot her boyfriend. Dispatchers were later contacted by Penrod, who reported he had shot his neighbor (Bowman) after being threatened to be killed by Bowman. Penrod stated his ex-fiancé tried to take the gun from him, so he left the residence. He told the dispatcher that he was at his father’s residence, and the pistol he used to shoot Bowman was in his truck.
According to the defense, during the altercation that ensued after Penrod discovered Self had been with Bowman overnight, Bowman threatened Penrod, and said, “I’m going to kill you.” Upon being threatened, Penrod retrieved a Sig Sauer 1911 style .45 caliber ACP semi-automatic pistol from his room and returned to find Bowman with a gun. At that time, fearing for his life, Penrod opened fire on Bowman.
Bowman’s body was later found by police near an island in the kitchen area of the house next to a .22 caliber revolver. The revolver was loaded with ammunition, and the hammer was cocked, but no rounds appeared to have been fired.
During the trial, the prosecution alleged that Penrod had planted the revolver.
A significant aspect of the prosecution’s case that Penrod had planted the revolver hinged on a couple of details from the morning of the shooting, namely that the revolver should have had more blood on it if it had been in Bowman’s possession at the time he was shot, and that Penrod had the time needed to prepare and plant the gun next to Bowman.
Regarding the blood, Penrod’s attorney, Andy Pevehouse, said that the analysis of the scene actually provided evidence for Nathan’s version of that morning’s events. “Ultimately, the medical evidence, the testimony from the medical examiner, showed that the amount of blood and the placement of the blood was actually pretty consistent with our theory of the case,” said Pevehouse.
Also, the defense demonstrated during the trial that, given the time it would have taken Penrod to travel to his father’s residence from Bowman’s house, he would not have had enough time to prepare and plant the revolver.
“The drive time from the place where Nathan [and] Mr. Bowman were living, that drive time, the evidence showed, was about 11 minutes,” said Pevehouse. “Nathan arrived at his dad’s house, and working backward from there, we were able to show that he left the house literally, you know, seconds after the shooting happened. So, there just wasn’t time for him to have planted evidence.”
Pevehouse said he was pleased with the verdict and happy for the Penrod family. “Everyone was relieved and overjoyed and really just grateful that the system worked and that the jury saw the truth of what happened.”
The jury deliberated for one day after closing arguments were made.
