IDAHO FALLS — Daniel Wood, who assisted in the murder of a man in the hopes of getting a place to sleep, was sentenced Thursday to spend at least the next 20 years in prison.

District Judge Dane Watkins Jr. sentenced the 19-year-old to 20 to 60 years in prison.

In his sentence, Watkins noticed the oddity of Wood’s involvement. Wood agreed to help Westley Hightower, 19, kill Larry Powell, 68, Hightower’s stepfather. On Sept. 28, 2020, Hightower shot Powell in the back of the head while Wood distracted him.

Wood had met Hightower just five days before the shooting, and Hightower told Wood, who was homeless, that he could live in Powell’s house after the murder.

The pair also had reportedly attempted to poison Powell.

Pictures of Powell, from childhood to his adult years, were displayed to the court as his daughter and widow read victim impact statements to the court. Both said Powell’s murder left them depressed.

Powell’s daughter, Nichole McDonald, said her father’s last words to her were sent via text message a few days before the shooting.

“You’ve done well sweetheart. I’m very proud of your little family,” Powell said, according to McDonald.

McDonald learned of her father’s death from her husband, a police officer, who responded to a school near Powell’s home when it was put on alert after the shooting. Her husband called her to double-check her father’s address, believing she would say it was different from the home where the shooting had been reported.

When the family learned Hightower was the shooter, they thought it had either been an accident or that Hightower had acted while angry. They then learned the murder was carefully planned by Hightower and Wood.

“I was filled with horror and disgust upon learning that this was not a heat of the moment incident at all,” McDonald said.

McDonald said she and her family had been consumed by grief and a sense of helplessness since the murder, and that her happy memories of her father were “tainted” by how he died.

“It is a roller-coaster from hell that I cannot adequately describe to anyone who has not lived through it,” McDonald said.

McDonald said Wood, in particular, could have reported Hightower when he mentioned wanting to murder his stepfather, but instead chose to help him.

Carol Powell, Larry Powell’s widow, said that in addition to the grief inflicted by his death she had suffered financially from the murder, including the loss of their dream home that Wood believed he would live in.

Carol Powell noted that Wood and her son had also discussed murdering her, and that she now sleeps with a gun nearby out of fear.

Defense attorney Neal Randall agreed his client had committed a harmful act. He emphasized, however, that Wood has an IQ of 70, has mental health disorders, and had never had a consistent home throughout his childhood. Wood had mentioned his 5-day-old friendship with Hightower as part of his motive, but Randall described Wood’s idea of friendship as “a little deranged.”

“We’re not dealing with a person who has a normal thought process,” Randall said.

Randall also said Wood confessed to the crime first, while Hightower originally claimed the shooting was an accident.

Bonneville County Prosecutor Alayne Bean noted Wood had been cooperative with the investigation. She said, however, that he has a criminal history of violent offenses and showed disrespect for authority while in juvenile detention.

Bean referred back to the harm Powell’s family described in his statement.

“(Wood) stole time, he stole moments,” Bean said. “What they took can’t be replaced.”

Bean also said that while the killing was Hightower’s idea, Hightower seemed emboldened after Wood was willing to cooperate and suggested the murder may not have happened without Wood. Wood told police he agreed to help with the murder because he felt “loyal” to Hightower after their brief friendship.

“If Daniel Wood thinks Westley Hightower is a friend, then at the very least he’s naïve,” Bean said.

Wood had been charged with first-degree murder, but was sentenced to second-degree murder as part of a plea agreement. Hightower has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and is awaiting sentencing.