A Lewiston man charged with first-degree murder will let a jury decide if he murdered his father, who suffered from Alzheimer’s.
Mark L. Hopson, 59, pleaded innocent in 2nd District Court in Lewiston on Thursday. Hopson was arraigned on a first-degree murder charge by 2nd District Judge Jay Gaskill, who set a jury trial for Feb. 1, 2021.
Hopson allegedly suffocated his father, Billy R. Hopson, 94, on the night of June 7. According to court records, the younger Hopson said Alzheimer’s had left his father with no dignity, “and he couldn’t watch him any longer.”
Lewiston police say Hopson suffocated his father in his bed, and then woke up his sister, Debra Taylor, to tell her what he had done. Taylor told police her brother thought he could suffocate their father and everyone would think he passed away in his sleep. But Billy Hopson fought back and bit his son, court records said.
Taylor testified at her brother’s preliminary hearing that Hopson told her that “I thought it would be easy, but he fought like a son of a bitch.” She also testified that her brother told her that their father asked his son during the struggle “if they could talk about this.”
Hopson is being defended by his court-appointed public defender, Rick Cuddihy, in the case.
Hopson is in Nez Perce County Jail on a $1,000,000 bond.
The maximum penalty for first-degree murder in Idaho is either life in prison or death and a $50,000 fine.
