SEATTLE — Quick Facts:
- Murder suspect Dinh Bowman guilty of killing Yancy Noll.
- Jury didn't buy self-defense story.
- No witnesses back up Bowman's road rage claim.
- Bowman will face between 25 and 31 years in prison.
- Noll was killed Aug. 31, 2012.
A man who police say showed significant planning before killing a random stranger in North Seattle was found guilty Thursday morning.
Jurors didn’t buy a claim that Dinh Bowman, 32, killed wine steward Yancy Noll after Noll chased him in a road rage incident and threw a wine bottle at him. Bowman claimed that the wine bottle went out Noll’s window, into Bowman’s car and hit him in the head.
Bowman will face between 25 and 31 years in prison when sentenced for his first-degree murder conviction.
Noll's friends in court cried out in relief, even mouthing "thank you" to jurors. Noll's girlfriend, Jody Wirtz, wiped away tears. Bowman was taken out of the courtroom away from reporters, and his parents were rushed to an elevator. Bowman's defense attorney said he would appeal.
"This case was particularly frightening because Yancy Noll could have been any of us," Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Kristin Richardson said after Bowman was led to jail.
No witnesses backed up Bowman’s claims for Noll's road rage. Police said they didn’t have evidence of road rage – but they do say Bowman methodically planned to kill someone in the same manner that Noll was shot to death on Aug. 31, 2012.
“He shot him in the head where he did because he meant to kill him,” Richardson told the court.
The story about Noll’s supposed road rage wasn’t told until Bowman took the stand in early December. He was well prepared answering questions from his own attorney, but tip-toed around questions from the prosecution. He never directly answered yes or no, and showed no emotion when asked about how he killed Noll with four shots to the head.
After a prosecutor pointed out his lack of emotion, Bowman wept briefly Tuesday after a 15-minute court break and talking with his defense team.
“His story is bunk and it doesn’t even meet self-defense,” Richardson said in closing arguments.
Noll and his attorney claimed that was the motive for shooting Noll, who they claim threw the wine bottle from his own car into Bowman’s vehicle, hitting him in the head -- all while driving.
“That’s one magic wine bottle,” Ricahrdson said Tuesday.
Asked previously in court why he never called police, Bowman said he didn't think they'd believe him about road rage. Bowman fired the fatal shots through his own passenger window.
A police search showed that Bowman searched for news coverage of the killing shortly after he shot Noll to death. And the night that he killed him, Bowman and his wife went to Red Robin.
A dent in Noll's car wasn't from road rage – it was there long before, his best friend testified earlier.
"Shooting Yancy Noll was like a movie," Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Adrienne McCoy told the jury on Dec. 4.
After the shooting, Bowman and his wife drove to Portland, where they had the shattered window replaced, and the manager of a Lynnwood tire store testified that it was odd that Bowman wanted new tires shortly after the shooting and that he wanted to keep the old tires to give to a friend.
Bowman didn't want his personal information on the tire store invoice.
Noll's defense attorney previously said the prosecution was "desperate" in its attempts to get additional files from Bowman's computer entered as evidence.
But King County Superior Court Judge Bruce Heller allowed more of Bowman's journals to be introduced after Bowman claimed that he killed Noll in self-defense.
The judge also allowed the prosecutor to show the jury how the massive amounts of information on Bowman's computer were organized.
Bowman is expected to be sentenced in 2015.
Previous coverage
Dec. 4 - RAW VIDEO: Dinh Bowman murder trial testimony
Dec. 9 - Killer shows little emotion during murder case
Dec. 8 - Murder suspect tip-toes through questioning
Dec. 4 - Murder suspect: I shot victim - but in self-defense
Dec. 3 - Prosecutor: 'How-to' video shows premeditation
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