Lane County judge declares mistrial Thursday in Five Rivers murder trial after jury deadlocks on verdict

By JAIME ADAME/Lookout Eugene Springfield

EUGENE — A Lane County circuit judge declared a mistrial Thursday in the murder trial of Everett Fuller of Five Rivers after the jury said it could not reach a verdict after three days of deliberations.

In an interview, deputy district attorney Nicholas Geil said Fuller will be tried a second time on a charge of second-degree murder for the Dec. 26, 2024 shooting of Christopher “Bubba” Clark Jr. at Prindel Creek Farm 25 miles east of Yachats.

Clark was in a relationship with Fuller’s wife, Christine, according to court testimony. Fuller, 57, testified that he shot Clark in an act of self-preservation, fearful of being pulled down from a raised platform onto a concrete floor by Clark.

Geil argued that Fuller provoked Clark on the night of the shooting when Fuller walked into an area on the property known as the “Packing Shed” where Christine Fuller, Clark and two others had gathered.

“He went to the Packing Shed with a pistol in his pocket … sat in Mr. Clark’s chair and began to taunt him,” Geil told jurors. Geil argued that Fuller worked “to create a situation in which he could shoot him, and then he did, he shot him in the face, he shot him in the top of the head and shot him in the back.”

When deliberations began Tuesday afternoon, Judge Clara Rigmaiden told the 12-person jury — who heard testimony and arguments over four days — that a guilty verdict must be unanimous. Rigmaiden said a nonguilty verdict could be handed down without unanimous agreement, but at least 10 jurors must find the defendant not guilty.

In court Thursday, the presiding juror said the jury split 8-4. Rigmaiden instructed her not to say in court whether more jurors favored a guilty or not guilty verdict.

Outside the Lane County courthouse, presiding juror Sarah Oltman said in an interview that eight jurors favored a not guilty verdict.

“We were just at a complete impasse,” Oltman said. “Everyone was really firm in their belief about whether or not the state had given enough evidence for a conviction of second-degree murder, and we had the same conversation multiple times, just kind of went around in circles, and really nobody was able to budge from what they believed based on the evidence presented. …

“We were really stuck on the idea of intent, and … what mindsets could create intent, and was there enough proof for it to prove intent or not?” Oltman said. “And four people said definitely yes, and eight people said there just was not enough.”

Asked why he would pursue a retrial, Geil said outside the courtroom that “We’re pursuing justice for the victims in this case, and so in order to do that, we would have to do the second trial. That’s really what it comes down to.”

John Kolego, a defense attorney for Fuller, said afterwards that attorneys believed they had a valid self-defense argument.

“It was a difficult case,” he said. “Obviously, we have to respect the jury’s deliberations, and we’re disappointed that they couldn’t reach a verdict.”

Kolego described Fuller’s reaction as “just a general sense of disappointment.”

A night of chaos in Five Rivers

The shooting took place Dec. 26, 2024, on the remote Prindel Creek Farm in the Five Rivers community east of Yachats.

Clark’s death ignited a chaotic night that lasted into the next day. One of the farm’s residents, Tyler Holloway and another man called 9-1-1, drawing a response from police from at least four agencies and eventually an Oregon State Police special tactics team.

SWAT members shot and killed Holloway, 26, on Dec. 27 after he mistakenly thought one of them was Fuller and fired off a shot in their direction, according to a lawsuit by his mother.

Lane County District Attorney Christopher Parosa concluded that officers who fatally shot Holloway had no criminal responsibility. Holloway’s mother has filed a $12.5 million wrongful death lawsuit against the police agencies that responded that night.

Fuller testified last week that the night of Dec. 26 that Clarked grabbed his leg while he sat in a rolling chair on a raised platform inside a shed on the farm property where residents often gathered to socialize. Defense attorney Willow Hillman told jurors on the trial’s first day that the platform was 5 feet, 8 inches off the ground and jurors also heard testimony from an expert about the amount of force that could result from such a fall.

Fuller said that feeling himself sliding out of the chair and fearing a fall, he first tried to kick Clark away. When that failed, he shot Clark, he said.

A self-described pacifist, Fuller said the shooting was a reaction rather than a conscious act.

“I didn’t ever make the choice. I just noticed after it happened I had shot him,” Fuller testified.

Geil, in closing arguments, told jurors Fuller was angry at Clark and “in denial” that his marriage to Christine Fuller was over.

Fuller said he walked into the Packing Shed after his wife did not show up for a planned evening together with the couple’s two sons. Fuller said he went to the shed as a “reminder” to his wife that “she’s skipping the obligation that she made without any communication with me at all,” and that he went there to watch others play darts, not to argue.

According to testimony, Christine Fuller left the Packing Shed before the shooting.

Fuller testified that Clark said: “‘That’s my chair.’ I said, ‘No, it’s not son, it’s a chair that’s here on the farm’.”

When Clark said not to call him “son,” Fuller testified that he responded by saying “‘I’m sitting in this chair tonight, son’.”

Geil, in his closing argument, described Fuller’s actions that night as provoking Clark, including with taunts.

• Jaime Adame is the justice correspondent for Lookout Eugene Springfield, an online news operation covering Lane County.