Another of the boy’s friends said that several days before the homicide, the boy said he wanted to move back in with his mother, according to court records.
The boy is accused of fatally shooting his father, Jimmie Asher Jr., 39, at close range in the back of his head as Asher Jr. slept in bed with his fiancee in their home in the 10900 block of Delphi Road.
Details of conversations between detectives and a group of four of the 13-year-old’s closest friends are included in unsealed search warrant affidavits filed on Monday in Thurston County Superior Court.
One friend said the boy’s dad “was strict and hard to please,” according to the affidavit. Another said the boy’s father did not let his son go many places, the affidavit states.
However, the 13-year-old’s attorney, James Dixon, said Wednesday that it would be inaccurate to say that there was discord between the two. He said in subsequent interviews that detectives had with some of the boy’s other friends, and faculty at the middle school, people reported a healthy, loving relationship between son and father.
Dixon added that from the police reports he’s reviewed, friends and family report Jimmie Asher Jr. and his son generally got along and loved one another. Any issues between the two were nothing more than what anyone would expect in any normal father-son relationship, he added.
“They had a positive, loving relationship, and I am certain that’s what all the evidence will show if this case goes to trial,” Dixon said.
The search warrant affidavits filed with the court on Monday were to search cellphone records belonging to the 13-year-old, his mother, and Jimmie Asher Jr.’s fiancee, who was in bed sleeping with earplugs when Asher Jr. was shot dead. Shortly after his father was shot, the 13-year-old sent a text to the fiancee, reading “Sorry, I did something,” court papers state.
“It is believed that the cellphone records of the above individuals will contain useful information and will provide an accurate timeline of the events that transpired,” reads the affidavits.
Dixon has said that his client shot his father by accident.
Thurston County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Wayne Graham has said in court that the evidence shows the 13-year-old shot his father “with a close-range gunshot to the back of his head,” and was standing “no further than 24 inches from the back of his head” at the time the shot was fired. That evidence contradicts the 13-year-old’s statements that he was 10 to 12 feet from his father’s bed when the gun went off.
According to the search warrant affidavits filed on Monday:
When a sergeant with the Thurston County Sheriff’s Department arrived at the Delphi Road home on the night of the shooting, the boy “did not appear to be upset or angry.”
He gave sheriff’s investigators conflicting stories about what happened, first stating that he heard a gunshot from his room, and then stating that gun accidentally went off when he went to investigate noises coming from his father’s room.
“The firearm used was a Savage .17 caliber HMR bolt action rifle,” reads the affdavit. “Due to the fact that it was a bolt action rifle, the bolt would have to be manipulated for the casing to eject. The weapon was located with the bolt open, however the spent casing was never located. ”
Asher Jr.’s fiancee called 911 about 11:30 p.m. Oct. 23 when she woke up to find Asher Jr. unresponsive and covered in blood.
Investigators believe at least 39 minutes transpired between the time the gunshot that killed Asher Jr. was fired and when aid was summoned. “By his own admission,” the 13-year-old “did not check the welfare” of his father or his father’s fiancee after the shot was fired, according to the affidavit.
The 13-year-old is out of juvenile custody on bail, confined to electronic home monitoring in his mother’s custody. He is not allowed to attend classes at Tumwater Middle School.
The 13-year-old’s next juvenile court hearing will be at 9 a.m. on Dec. 21. During the hearing, the Thurston County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office will decide whether it will ask the Juvenile Court commissioner to move the case to Thurston County Superior Court.
If the Juvenile Court commissioner moves the case to Superior Court, the 13-year-old would face adult penalties if he is convicted of his father’s homicide. In juvenile court, the longest period of incarceration a juvenile can be sentenced to is up to his or her 21st birthday.
Graham said Wednesday that his office is still collecting information and has not yet decided whether it will ask to move the case to Superior Court.
Jeremy Pawloski: 360-754-5445 jpawloski@theolympian.com
