MONTPELIER — A local man and well-known doctor accused of murdering his wife last month has been released from jail after posting bond, according to court records.

Robert Dwight Degnan, 88, of Montpelier, was released from the Caribou County Jail in Soda Springs on Oct. 1 after posting a $25,000 surety bond that 6th District Judge Mitchell Brown had set earlier that same day.

Degnan was charged with one count of first-degree murder on Sept. 8 after he allegedly fatally shot his wife, Marjorie, in the chest in the early morning hours of Sept. 6 in a failed murder-suicide attempt, according to police reports the Idaho State Journal obtained last month. Degnan was unable to shoot himself after he dropped the gun and was unable to find it due to his poor eyesight, police said.

For about three decades, Degnan served as a trusted obstetrician and gynecologist for Bear Lake Memorial Hospital in Montpelier after having moved to the area with his wife, Marjorie, and three of their eight children in 1987. Up to that point, he had delivered approximately 10,000 babies throughout the country.

The incident began to unfold around 7 a.m. Sept. 6 when the Bear Lake County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call from Degnan saying he and Marjorie had planned to commit suicide together and that he had just recently fatally shot his wife, police said.

Officers and deputies with the Montpelier Police Department, Bear Lake County Sheriff’s Office and Idaho State Police were dispatched to the Degnan home at 20021 U.S. Highway 30 in Montpelier. While officers were en route, Degnan was transported to the same hospital he worked at for decades, Bear Lake Memorial Hospital, for examination, according to police.

Officers arrived at the Degnan residence to find Marjorie dead inside the home’s garage from a single gunshot wound to the chest, police said.

After being cleared at the hospital, Degnan was transported to the Montpelier Police Department where he was questioned by police.

During the interview, Degnan told authorities that he and his wife had planned a joint suicide about six months before he allegedly fatally shot Marjorie, sharing the idea with nobody else, police said. The plan involved Degnan shooting Marjorie because she had never handled a gun before, police said.

Degnan told police that he had a wasting disease that caused him to lose weight and muscle, adding that “he just didn’t want to live” anymore, police said. About six weeks prior to the shooting, Degnan endured a major convulsion during a medical episode that caused him to lose most of his eyesight, police said, adding that Degnan could only see out of a small spot in his left eye.

The same day Degnan bonded out of jail, Bear Lake County Prosecuting Attorney Adam McKenzie, who is handling the case, filed a motion notifying the court that his office has no intention of seeking the death penalty against Degnan if he’s convicted of the capital crime of murdering his wife.

Moreover, McKenzie filed a motion asking the court to host all of the future proceedings for Degnan in-person as opposed to remotely due to his age and medical conditions. Brown ordered the Oct. 1 hearing be held in person but did not rule on any future proceedings, according to court records.

Brown also ordered several conditions of release for Degnan on Oct. 1, which included placing him in the custody of his son Riley Degnan, putting him on house arrest with an ankle monitor and requiring his medications be locked up and dispensed by a family member only, according to court records.

Degnan has retained Rexburg attorney Joseph Hayes to represent him at trial, of which Degnan’s jury trial date has been scheduled in Bear Lake County on Jan. 4, 2021.

Degnan waived his preliminary hearing last month. Preliminary hearings involve prosecutors presenting evidence to the court in an attempt to prove there is enough evidence to send the case to trial. In waiving the preliminary hearing, Degnan conceded there was enough evidence to send the case to trial.

If convicted of the first-degree murder charge filed against him, Degnan faces up to life in prison.