Delia D'Ambra

So in an act of pure fear, according to Claude, he said he gunned down both officers when he thought he saw Bill reach for his service weapon.

During his time on the stand, Claude revealed the location of Bill's remains in Nevada, and by that afternoon, while the trial was still ongoing, investigators went directly to the area in the desert where he said Bill was.

In a shallow grave about three feet deep, they discovered leg bones, a pair of boots with lower leg bones and feet bones still in them, and a human skull.

There were also signs of animal activity at the site, and several remains were scattered nearby in the landscape, one of which had a piece of trouser material on it that was green, like the uniform fishing game wardens wore.

Interestingly, where Bill had been buried was an area that searchers had previously combed, but because his remains had been covered up, searchers never saw them.

But even with Bill's remains found, jurors ultimately did not convict Claude of first-degree murder.

Instead, on Wednesday, October 20th, when the verdict came in, they found him guilty of two counts of voluntary manslaughter, obstructing or concealing evidence and using a firearm during the commission of a crime.

The foreman of the jury told the Idaho statesman afterwards that it came down to the order and number of shots Claude had fired.

He said that if Claude had not delivered the final headshots to Conley and Bill, the jury likely would have acquitted him.

But because he'd made sure the victims were dead after initially shooting them in self-defense, the jury had to go with the voluntary manslaughter verdict.

The maximum amount of time Claude was facing in prison was 50 years and six months.

The prosecutor who argued the case for the state was super disappointed in the verdict and told the press, quote, I thought it was first-degree murder or I wouldn't have prosecuted Dallas for first-degree murder.

I think he lied on the witness stand.

The Claude Dallas who was in the courtroom and the Claude Dallas at the shooting scene are two different individuals.

This is a verdict the jury will have to live with."

Obviously, family members of the victims were disappointed too.

Dee Pogue, Bill's wife, told reporter John Akula that it was ironic how the court system had failed her husband, who'd been such a law-abiding person.

Conley Elms' sister-in-law expressed her outrage about the verdict too, and one of Bill Pogue's daughters also told the press that she thought Claude should have gotten more of a punishment.

She expressed that she thought the jurors likely sympathized more with Claude.

Bill's brother, Ed, told the Associated Press that he believed the jury was ignorant, and he didn't like that the defense had painted his brother as an overly zealous lawman who'd provoked Claude.