By Sara Gentzler

The Olympian

A jury found Bruce Fanning guilty of second-degree murder Thursday for shooting an intruder in a shower on his Belfair property in 2017, according to the Mason County Prosecutor’s office.

Fanning, 62, had been out on bail ahead of the trial, which began in late October. Now, he’s being held at Mason County Jail, said Richard Woodrow, his defense attorney.

Fanning’s sentencing is set for Dec. 17, according to Woodrow. He said because Fanning was found guilty of being armed with a firearm, five years will be added to his sentence. Fanning also will be required to pay restitution.

The jury returned its verdict about 10:30 a.m. Thursday. Jurors began deliberating Wednesday morning after hearing closing arguments Tuesday.

“I’m disappointed in the verdict,” Woodrow told The Olympian. “I expected Mr. Fanning to be found not guilty based upon self-defense.”

Fanning was arrested April 1, 2017, after he called 911 to report he had shot and killed an intruder inside his business at 1520 East Trails Road in Belfair. The business was in one of two houses on Fanning’s property where he lived.

The man who died was Nathaniel Rosa, who worked as a paraeducator at Woodmoor Elementary School in Bothell, according to The Olympian’s previous reporting. He was 31 years old.

According to court documents, Fanning told detectives he entered the residence where his business is housed the morning of April 1 and found an intruder showering.

He told the intruder to leave, according to court documents, and the man replied with “non-understandable verbal threats.” Fanning said he was afraid and thought the intruder was drunk.

Fanning left the building to retrieve a Smith and Wesson handgun from his home next door, then returned and shot the intruder three times through the shower curtain.

According to court documents, Rosa had been partying at a friend’s house two houses down, drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana. He had left the house around 7:30 a.m.

Prosecutors contended Rosa intended to return to his friend’s house and was desperate to get in from the cold. Fanning’s defense attorney argued Rosa knew what he was doing, and that he was committing a residential burglary when he “cased” the building and kicked in its front door.

Woodrow argued that Fanning couldn’t form the intent to kill due to an anxiety disorder and was acting in self-defense.

Clinical psychologist Dr. David Dixon testified during trial that Fanning has an anxiety disorder, is panic-prone and easily startled, and is slow to process information during stressful events, according to reporting in the Shelton-Mason County Journal.

“Fanning almost never leaves his home or dwelling,” the defense wrote in a trial brief.

Dr. Cynthia Mundt, a psychologist with the Office of Forensic and Mental Health Services, had diagnosed Fanning with an “unspecified adjustment disorder” as a result of the stress from this case. She found that Fanning had been functioning normally aside from the distress of his legal situation, the Kitsap Sun reported at the time.

In closing arguments, Mason County Prosecutor Michael Dorcy stressed that both psychologists agreed Fanning had not “endorsed” feelings of anxiety before the shooting.

The defense contended Rosa had yelled profanities and threatened Fanning when he initially encountered him, based on a phone call Fanning made from jail to a friend after he was arrested.

When Fanning returned with his pistol, he was on his way to the only phone that the defense said could dial out — to call 911 — when he saw movement in the shower and a “poking” motion toward him through the curtain, the defense trial brief reads.

In closing arguments, prosecutor Dorcy pointed to inconsistencies in Fanning’s version of events.

“It all comes back to the poking,” Dorcy said in his response to the defense’s closing argument. “The mysterious poking that was never reported at any time, anywhere, until … Mr. Fanning went to the psychologist that he hired to seek a defense to this charge.”

Fanning was originally charged with first-degree murder. A first-degree murder conviction would have required the jury to find Fanning had intended to cause Rosa’s death and that he had premeditated that intent. A second-degree murder conviction, in contrast, doesn’t require the jury to find Fanning had premeditated.

After the verdict was returned, defense attorney Woodrow said he thought Fanning’s statements to law enforcement — ostensibly the statements in which he didn’t mention the threats or the poking — “really hurt him,” and that perhaps the jury didn’t believe that he fired at what he thought was a gun behind the curtain.

Woodrow said Fanning is in “poor health” and that he doesn’t “really expect him to survive his stay in prison.” So, now he’s trying to take care of Fanning’s personal affairs. He plans to file a notice of appeal at Fanning’s sentencing.