PROVO — A 20-year-old Orem man has been acquitted of murder after a jury found he shot and killed an acquaintance in self-defense last year.
Jurors in Provo’s 4th District Court on Friday found Elbert John Paule guilty only of a single charge of obstructing justice, a second-degree felony, tied to the death of Dominique Barnett. He remains in the Utah County Jail.
After about 11 hours of deliberation over two days, the jury returned not-guilty verdicts on charges of murder, a first-degree felony; reckless endangerment, a class A misdemeanor; and assault, a class B misdemeanor.
When the verdict was read, Elbert’s family “were all crying and he had tears in his eyes as well,” said Rudy Bautista, his defense attorney.
Prosecutors alleged Paule shot Barnett, 26, at point-blank range in the doorway without saying a word after Barnett went to Paule’s apartment that night. Police said Barnett had gone to the complex with his girlfriend and their child to confront Paule about a drug deal.
Witnesses told police Paule had threatened to “‘blow Dominique away’ if he came over,” court documents said. After the shooting, Paule threw the shotgun off his third-story balcony and ran away, police said. He later turned himself in while in California’s San Diego County, where his family lives.
During the eight-day trial, Bautista pointed to evidence that Barnett had threatened Paule and had gone to Paule’s home with a plan to assault him.
“He was the shooter, but he did so in self-defense and defense of his home,” Bautista said of his client. In that sort of situation, he continued, “you’re presumed to be reasonable in defending yourself.”
Paule faces a maximum sentence of one to 15 years in the Utah State Prison when he is sentenced April 22.