A Kenai Peninsula jury has acquitted a 30-year-old Soldotna man on charges he shot and killed his roommate in 2022.
Nathan Penrod was acquitted Friday in Kenai Superior Court of charges including first- and second-degree murder, assault and evidence tampering following a trial that began in mid-August.
Penrod was accused of fatally shooting his roommate, Zechariah Bowman, in March 2022. Bowman sublet a room in his house to Penrod, according to sworn affidavit filed by an Alaska State Troopers investigator. The shooting occurred after Penrod discovered that his ex-fiancee spent the night with Bowman at the house.
The woman told investigators she tried to get the gun away from Penrod but couldn’t and ran to a neighbor’s house, the affidavit said. Penrod called 911 from his father’s house and said he’d killed Bowman after the other man threatened to kill him, it said.
During the trial, prosecutors told the jury that Penrod planted a revolver near Bowman’s body, according to KSRM radio. Penrod’s attorney said evidence presented during trial did not support that theory.