Idaho man who killed his wife was sentenced for the accident. Family says he abused her

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Photos of Dawn Marie Holley flashed through a slideshow presented in a third-floor Canyon County courtroom: smiling widely at the camera. With family at the beach. Standing in front of a Christmas tree.

The last image showed the 59-year-old lying down in a white coffin decorated with flowers.

Marie “wanted the best for everyone, and she had a heart full of compassion,” her sister Sandee Marchant told the court Friday morning as she read a letter on behalf of the family. “That very kindness tragically became her undoing.”

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Her husband, Steven Smith, shot and killed Holley in 2022. The 56-year-old man began crying when the photos played in court and later expressed his sorrow over the “reckless” shooting that he referred to as an accident.

“That’s my wife,” Smith said. “I’ll never get to see her again. Her family never gets to see her again.”

Smith told police that in the early hours of July 28, 2022, he’d been having trouble with his eyesight. When he went to pick up his gun after it had gotten out from underneath his pillow, it accidentally went off and struck Holley, he said.

Holley’s family painted a different picture of Smith. Marchant said Smith was “a dangerous, vindictive individual who poses a risk to society“ and had abused Holley.

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Canyon County Deputy Prosecutor Shari Dodge said the shooting may have been unintentional, but his actions leading up to the shooting were not. Dodge pointed out that the gun he owned had a dual-safety feature, so he would have had to hit both the safety and pull back the hammer.

Smith’s defense attorney, David Delyea, said his client wasn’t experienced with firearms and didn’t have enough training.

“I think sometimes things are just an accident,” Delyea said in court.

Smith sentenced to 20 years of probation

Third District Judge Gene Petty, who presides over cases in Canyon County, sentenced Smith to 20 years on probation, taking into account that he already served more than two years in jail, with a condition that he’ll spend two more years in the Canyon County Jail before he’s released.

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“We feel strongly that justice has not been served,” Marchant said, calling the minimal sentence a “great insult” to her sister’s memory.

Smith was initially charged with second-degree murder. With a second-degree murder conviction, Smith would have spent at least 10 years in prison with the possibility of a life sentence.

But with a binding plea deal, he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of involuntary manslaughter, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Smith was also convicted of an enhancement for the use of a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony.

“I do believe that the binding plea agreement is appropriate in this case, and I will follow it,” Petty said.

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Marchant also blamed prosecutors and said they had barely communicated with the family during the case. She said the family didn’t have a voice in the sentence.

Dodge, who wasn’t the primary prosecutor on the case, said she understood the family’s concerns and didn’t want to minimize their pain, but believed that the agreement was a “fair resolution.”

“It is never easy to lose a loved one in a manner such as this,” Dodge said.

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