(Lander) — A Fremont County District Court Jury of seven men and six women Thursday night found Troy Dean Willoughby not guilty of First Degree Murder in a two-week long retrial ordered in connection with the June 21, 1984 death of Elizabeth “Lisa” Ehlers of Jackson, who was shot dead in Hoback Canyon. The Fremont County District Court Clerk’s office confirmed the verdict Friday morning.
Willoughby was arrested in July of 2009 after new information surfaced in the case, and he was originally convicted in a Sublette County trial. On an appeal, the Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed the outcome of the first trial, but the case was reopened when new Sublette County Prosecutor Neal Stelting revealed that former prosecutors in the case had apparently withheld evidence from Willoughby’s defense team. Day ordered a new trial, which was moved to Lander by Ninth District Court Judge Timothy C. Day, citing a larger jury pool available in Fremont County and because of intense media coverage of the case in Sublette County.
The trial in Lander began Jan. 23 and lasted right at two weeks.
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