A jury Friday, Nov. 6, unanimously found Everett Scott Fuller guilty of first-degree manslaughter after hearing four days of testimony.

Fuller testified he shot Christopher Lee “Bubba” Clark Jr. in self-defense Dec. 26, 2024, after Clark grabbed his leg and tried to pull him down from an elevated platform onto a concrete floor.

Jurors found Fuller, 57, not guilty of second-degree murder at about 4:25 p.m. after their first full day of deliberations.

Deputy District Attorney Nicholas Geil asked Lane County Circuit Judge Charles Zennaché that jurors consider manslaughter as a lesser included charge. Before jurors began deliberating, the judge told them to consider manslaughter if they found Fuller not guilty of murder.

Clark, 32, and Fuller’s then-wife, Christine Fuller, were involved in a romantic relationship. During testimony from the Fullers’ two children, Christine Fuller and others, jurors heard about the couple’s separation as well as events the night of the shooting.

Fuller will be sentenced Thursday, Nov. 12, in Lane County Circuit Court. First-degree manslaughter carries a mandatory sentence of 10 years in prison. 

“I’m glad he’s not going home today,” Christopher Clark Sr. said outside Lane County Courthouse.

Clark, 54, described his son as “kind-hearted, loving.” 

“I’m just glad he didn’t walk,” Clark said.

Fuller previously had been tried for Clark Jr.’s murder, but jurors deadlocked in June. During that trial, jurors considered only whether he was guilty of second-degree murder.

The minimum sentence for second-degree murder is 25 years. Someone is guilty of first-degree manslaughter if they unlawfully and recklessly cause a death in “circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life,” Zennaché told jurors.

The shooting took place on Prindel Creek Farm, in northwest Lane County, about 25 miles east of Yachats in the Oregon Coast Range.

The property, in the isolated Five Rivers region in northwest Lane County, has residents who rent and others who trade work for lodging, with some living in a house and others in a trailer or yurt, according to trial testimony. 

Fuller and Clark both were residents at Prindel Creek Farm. Clark worked as a handyman, according to testimony.

Fuller’s defense attorneys ‘disappointed’

Outside the courthouse after the verdict, Fuller’s defense attorneys, Willow Hillman and John Kolego, said they were disappointed. 

Kolego said he believed Fuller to be innocent.

“I think it was a compromise verdict,” Kolego said. “I think that there were a number of people who believed that he was not guilty of any crime, but ultimately that they compromised.”

Jurors approached by a Lookout Eugene-Springfield reporter mostly declined to comment or just said that they were unanimous in agreement. 

Kolego described Fuller’s reaction as “stoic but disappointed.”

Sarah Fuller, Fuller’s mother, declined to comment after the verdict.

Geil, the prosecutor, also declined comment.

The night of the shooting

Geil in closing statements Thursday questioned Fuller’s testimony.

On the witness stand, Fuller said he fired his gun “in self-preservation, in some kind of reflex,” fearful of falling from an elevated platform after Clark grabbed his leg and tried to pull him down from the platform. 

In separate testimony, an expert gave the platform’s height as about 5 feet 6 inches or 5 feet 8 inches above the floor.

Fuller told jurors he was seated in an office chair with rollers and, with Clark pulling his leg, felt himself sliding out of the chair when he fired at Clark.

According to testimony, four people were present when the shooting took place in a structure known at Prindel Creek Farm as the Packing Shed. 

The four-person group, which also included Christine Fuller, had gathered there and were playing darts when Everett Fuller walked in and climbed up stairs to the elevated platform, telling the others he was there only to watch.

Christine Fuller, separated from Fuller at the time of the shooting, testified to feeling uncomfortable and was walking out when the shooting took place.

Amy Jewett, an eyewitness, testified that she didn’t see Clark grab Fuller’s leg. 

Geil told jurors in his closing argument that Fuller had testified that Clark did grab his leg. “But he’s got a motivation to present a different story.”

Defense attorneys attacked Jewett’s credibility, pointing out statements she made about the night of the shooting that didn’t match up with physical evidence, specifically how often Fuller fired his gun.

Jewett also testified that she is best friends with Christine Fuller and biased against Fuller. 

Another eyewitness, Tyler Holloway, died hours later when he was shot by police who were delayed several hours in arriving at the property. 

Holloway’s mother has filed a wrongful death lawsuit alleging negligence by an Oregon State Police sergeant and others, and Jewett testified that she has filed a tort claim, which is a filing under civil law that often seeks financial compensation for damages.

Community response

In between the first and second trials, at least a half-dozen current or former residents of the Five Rivers region wrote letters opposing Fuller’s pretrial release, which a judge denied.

About a dozen people watched Oct. 31 opening statements from the courtroom gallery, including Emily von W. Gilbert, 49. 

After the verdict, von W. Gilbert said some days she traveled roughly two hours each way to attend the trial, after having also attended the first trial.

She said Chris Clark Jr. was a good friend and “a joy to be around.” 

But the jurors got it wrong, she said.

“I think that he was guilty of murder,” von W. Gilbert said, standing near other residents of the Five Rivers region.

“This was a witnessed murder. It was basically an execution. So, if you have a witness that says that that’s what happened, I don’t see why you don’t believe her,” von W. Gilbert said.

She spoke while standing near other residents of the Five Rivers region who declined to comment.

“Even though none of this brings him back, none of it will bring Tyler back. I thought at least we would be able to get a record of the truth. But now I feel like we don’t even have that,” she said.

Clark Sr. also lives in the Five Rivers area.

“The Five Rivers community is great. They love my son. He’s done a lot for those people. Their power here [at the trial], I think, helped,” Clark Sr. said.

The trial began Oct. 28.