A Uinta County jury has found a local woman not guilty of discarding a pistol to help her husband avoid a first-degree murder charge.
Shadawn Oehler, 35, was tearful and terse during a Monday interview with Cowboy State Daily in which she reflected on her Thursday acquittal, saying all she wants is to move on and have a life with her children.
“I just want it all to be done,” said Oehler. “I want my kids to have a normal life — as normal as they can get now.”
Her children chattered in the background of the phone interview. One asked for cookies.
Oehler was accused of being an accessory after the fact to first-degree murder, which is a misdemeanor when the murder suspect is married to the alleged accessory. If she were convicted, she could have faced up to six months in jail and up to $750 in fines.
On Aug. 31, Oehler’s husband Skyler Gray, 37, drove up to a home in Fort Bridger, confronted 48-year-old Jeremy Jaques and shot Jaques about 10 times, court documents allege.
Jaques died at the scene.
Oehler and her children were in the truck at the time as Gray drove away from the scene.
At some point, Oehler threw the .45-caliber pistol Gray had used in the shooting out the window on Fort Bridger’s Business Loop 80.
‘I Won’t Be Doing That Again’
Oehler said she heard the gunshots.
She “assumed” Jaques had been shot but said she didn’t see it, she told Cowboy State Daily.
The gun involved was a .45-caliber pistol. It was Oehler’s own gun, which she’d bought in December 2023.
“I won’t be doing that again,” said Oehler of buying guns. She noted there’s nothing criminal about buying a gun, but even unexpected gunshots in movies make her anxious now.
In the truck along the Business Loop, Oehler said Gray told her in a calm but demanding tone to get rid of the gun.
“I was scared,” she said. “All I wanted to do was protect my children.”
She said she also tried to convince herself that she was having a nightmare and, “I can wake up now.”
She later told law enforcement where she’d discarded the gun, court documents say. That’s because she was taking mental notes at the time, Oehler added.
‘Was A Victim’
Gray has been charged with first-degree murder and is scheduled for a Nov. 3 trial.
Oehler’s jury trial on her accessory charge started last Wednesday in Evanston Circuit Court.
The jury deliberated for about 90 minutes Thursday afternoon once the evidence presentations ended, Oehler’s attorney Bailey Lazzari of Lander-based Lazzari Legal Group told Cowboy State Daily on Monday.
In light of her husband’s upcoming trial, Oehler declined to talk about Gray during her interview.
But Lazzari related that her case-in-chief at trial drew from testimony of Oehler’s friends, who spoke of seeing fingerprint-shaped bruises on Oehler’s neck and other signs of domestic abuse.
“It’s really important to know Shadawn was a victim of domestic violence,” said Lazzari. “This was framed like she was helping her husband, when really she was just a victim like everyone else in this situation.”
Lazzari said she tapped the testimony of a domestic violence expert who normally testifies for prosecutors in defense of victims, and in protection order and divorce cases.
“This was her first time testifying for a criminal defendant, which I thought was cool,” said the attorney.
Both Lazzari and the prosecutor, Uinta County Attorney Loretta Howieson Kallas, informed the jury that they both agreed that Gray shot Jaques, and the gun ejected from the truck window was the same gun used in the shooting.
What About Intent?
But to convict Oehler of being an accessory, the jury had to look deeper.
It would have had to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Oehler acted “with the intent to hinder, delay or prevent the discovery, detection, apprehension, prosecution, detention, conviction or punishment of Skyler Gray for the commission of the crime of murder in the first degree,” according to the jury instructions.
That’s where the charge likely fell apart, said Lazzari, adding that the evidence pointed toward Oehler acting, rather, as a woman avoiding abuse or “under duress.”
Oehler spent four days in jail when first arrested, before bonding out, and another three or four days when arrested on a bond violation, for talking to Gray, Oehler told Cowboy State Daily.
The whole experience has made her stronger, though she’s still growing used to the concept of being a single mother, she said.
Oehler said she is sad over the effects of the tragedy and feels badly for everyone involved, especially Jaques’ family and his kids.
His son and her son were best friends before the incident, she said.
“My son misses him deeply,” said Oehler.
Oehler said she hopes that if people want to confront her about the incident, they won’t do it in front of her kids — or toward her kids.
“I have to explain to them all the time: ‘It’s not you guys. It’s not you guys. I promise you guys you’re good kids,’” she said. “Let my kids be kids.”
Lazzari said one “interesting twist” to the case was Howieson Kallas offered either the maximum sentence or a cold plea, letting the judge decide Oehler’s sentence if Oehler would plead to the charge.
“She almost didn’t even have a choice but to go to trial,” said the attorney.
Beautiful System
Howieson Kallas told Cowboy State Daily she was surprised Lazzari was discussing the negotiations, but confirmed she offered the “cold plea” in which Oehler could plead guilty and let Evanston Circuit Court Judge Michael Greer choose her sentence, because, “I thought Judge Greer would likely be compassionate.”
Citing various parties in the case, Howieson Kallas said she believes the jury acquitted Oehler on the belief that Oehler wasn’t acting to help Gray dodge accountability – but in response to the gunshot succession and other intense events she’d just experienced.
“(The jury likely believed she) was just removing the firearm from the situation,” she said.
The prosecutor does not believe this acquittal diminishes the state’s charge that Gray committed first-degree murder.
She also said she respects and understands the jury’s verdict.
“Our jury system is a beautiful, wonderful thing. And I’m super grateful for our jurors,” she said.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
