Lewiston man pleads guilty in death of his father
Jun. 23—Mark L. Hopson pleaded guilty Tuesday to voluntary manslaughter for suffocating his Alzheimers-afflicted 94-year-old father with a pillow at their Prospect Avenue home in Lewiston last year.
Nez Perce County prosecutors initially charged Hopson, 60, with first-degree murder, alleging the killing was premeditated and committed with malice. But a mediated agreement reached with the help of 2nd District Senior Judge Carl Kerrick reduced that charge in exchange for Hopson's guilty plea.
The maximum sentence for voluntary manslaughter is 15 years in prison and a $15,000 fine. Hopson also pleaded guilty to a felony charge of failing to report a death, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine.
Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor April Smith said that under the terms of a binding plea agreement, the prosecution will argue for a fixed sentence of 15 years in prison from District Judge Jay Gaskill, plus an indeterminate term of 10 years in prison on the charge of failure to report a death. The defense will argue for a five- to 15-year term in prison that would be suspended in lieu of probation. Gaskill set sentencing for July 27.
Hopson has been in custody since the killing took place in early June 2020, and he appeared Tuesday at the Nez Perce County Courthouse dressed in the gray-on-gray stripes of the Nez Perce County jail with shackles at his wrists, ankles and waist. When Gaskill asked him if he killed his father, Billy R. Hopson, Hopson admitted that he did.
At Hopson's preliminary hearing last year, his sister Debra Taylor testified she was at the Hopson home on the night of the killing. Hopson woke her up in the middle of the night to tell her he had done something bad, and that "dad's gone," Taylor testified.
She initially thought he meant Billy Hopson had wandered away because of his condition. But he made it clear he had "put dad out of his misery," Taylor said. The two conferred about what to do while standing in Billy Hopson's room, where his dead body lay on the floor. Hopson replaced a sheet on his bed because it had blood on it from a bite to his hand Billy Hopson gave him during their struggle.
He put another sheet on the bed, and the siblings moved Billy Hopson's body from the floor to the bed in an attempt to make it look like he died naturally. But Hopson was skeptical because his father didn't look like he had died in his sleep, Taylor testified. She also testified that she feared Hopson would kill her if she didn't go along.
Taylor left the house and called 911 when Hopson went to the bathroom to tend to his wounded hand. She received immunity from prosecution for helping move her father's body because of her cooperation. She told the court the worst thing Hopson said that night was, "I thought it would be easy, but he fought like a son of a bitch."
Hopson is already on probation for a previous felony DUI conviction, and his guilty plea Tuesday violated the terms of his probation. The penalty for that violation will be imposed at a later date.
Mills may be contacted at jmills@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2266.
