Jury deliberating fate of Belfair man who shot intruder in shower
UPDATE: Jury finds Belfair man guilty of second-degree murder for shooting intruder in shower
The fate of Bruce Fanning, a man who admitted to shooting an intruder in a shower on his Belfair property in 2017, is now in the hands of a Mason County Superior Court jury.
Attorneys presented closing arguments Tuesday to the jury that will now determine whether Fanning is guilty of first-degree murder.
Fanning, 62, was arrested April 1, 2017, after he called 911 to report he had shot and killed an intruder inside his business at 1520 East Trails Road in Belfair. The business was in one of two houses on Fanning’s property where he lived.
The man who died was Nathaniel Rosa, who worked as a paraeducator at Woodmoor Elementary School in Bothell, according to The Olympian’s previous reporting. He was 31 years old.
According to court documents, Fanning told detectives he entered the residence where his business is housed the morning of April 1 and found an intruder showering. Fanning spends about 16 hours per day in that residence/business, according to a defense trial brief.
He told the intruder to leave, according to court documents, and the man replied with “non-understandable verbal threats.” Fanning said he was afraid and thought the intruder was drunk.
Fanning left the building to retrieve a Smith and Wesson handgun from his home next door, then returned and shot the intruder three times through the shower curtain.
“It’s offensive to have your property broken into, there’s no question about it,” Mason County Prosecutor Michael Dorcy said in closing arguments. “But you can’t kill somebody for it.”
According to court documents, Rosa had been partying at a friend’s house two houses down. He had left the house around 7:30 a.m., and had been drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana.
Prosecutors contended Rosa intended to return to his friend’s house and was desperate to get in from the cold. Fanning’s defense attorney said Rosa knew what he was doing, and that he was committing a residential burglary when he kicked in the front door to the building.
A first-degree murder conviction would require the jury to find Fanning had intended to cause Rosa’s death and that he had premeditated that intent. Fanning’s defense lawyer, Richard Woodrow, argued that Fanning couldn’t form the intent to kill due to an anxiety disorder and was acting in self-defense.
Clinical psychologist Dr. David Dixon testified during trial that Fanning has an anxiety disorder, is panic-prone and easily startled, and is slow to process information during stressful events, according to reporting in the Shelton-Mason County Journal.
“Fanning almost never leaves his home or dwelling,” defense wrote in a trial brief while explaining Fanning’s reclusive lifestyle.
Dr. Cynthia Mundt, a psychologist with the Office of Forensic and Mental Health Services, had diagnosed Fanning with an “unspecified adjustment disorder” as a result of the stress from this case. She found that Fanning had been functioning normally aside from the distress of his legal situation, Kitsap Sun reported at the time.
In closing arguments, prosecutor Dorcy stressed that both psychologists agreed Fanning hadn’t “endorsed” feelings of anxiety before the shooting.
The defense contends Rosa had yelled profanities and threatened Fanning when he initially encountered him. And when Fanning returned with his pistol, he was on his way to the only phone that the defense says could dial out — to call 911 — when he saw movement in the shower and a “poking” motion toward him through the curtain.
In closing arguments, prosecutor Dorcy pointed to inconsistencies in Fanning’s version of events.
“It all comes back to the poking,” Dorcy said in his response to the defense’s closing argument. “The mysterious poking that was never reported at any time, anywhere, until ... Mr. Fanning went to the psychologist that he hired to seek a defense to this charge.”
If the jurors can’t agree that Fanning committed first-degree murder, they’ll consider whether he’s guilty of second-degree murder or manslaughter in the first or second degree.
According to state law, the maximum sentence for first-degree murder is life in prison and/or a $50,000 fine. In this case, Fanning also would owe restitution, according to court documents.
The jury began deliberating Wednesday morning.
This story was originally published November 20, 2019 at 10:03 AM.
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