COEUR d’ALENE — A man has pleaded guilty to fatally shooting his ex’s boyfriend as part of a plea deal to avoid the death penalty, according to court records. 

Jason M. Rook, 48, pleaded guilty last week to first-degree murder in the death of 46-year-old Nathan Rogers. Rook also pleaded guilty in accordance with Alford to first-degree stalking, a felony. By entering an Alford plea for stalking, Rook did not admit guilt but acknowledged there was enough evidence to convict him at trial. 

In exchange for Rook’s guilty pleas, prosecutors agreed to dismiss charges of burglary and destruction of evidence and to dismiss a notice of intent to seek the death penalty. 

Rook will instead receive a sentence of life in prison with no possibility of parole. Also in accordance with the plea deal, Rook waived his right to appeal conviction and his ability to request a withdrawal of his guilty pleas. 

Kootenai County Prosecuting Attorney Stan Mortensen told the court that the decision to no longer seek the death penalty was made in consultation with Rogers’ family. He said prosecutors met with the family to discuss the history of the death penalty in Idaho and related statistics. 

“The family wishes to attempt to get some closure in the matter without having to deal with decades of appeals,” Mortensen said. 

The charges stem from Feb. 26, when a woman reported to police that she saw someone enter her Post Falls home and believed her boyfriend, Nathan Rogers, had been shot. Police found Rogers dead inside the home from apparent gunshot wounds.

Security cameras in the home appeared to show a man — later identified by police as Rook — enter the home through an unlocked door and remain there for several hours before shooting Rogers, according to court records. 

Police began searching for Rook the day of the shooting and arrested him three days later in Coeur d’Alene. 

First District Judge Keisha Oxendine ordered in February that Rook be held without bail. He remains in custody at the Kootenai County jail. 

Rook is expected to be sentenced in early November.