Court records describe a shared Pocatello home where money, power service and plans to move out became sources of conflict.
POCATELLO, Idaho — What police describe as a deadly fight between an uncle and nephew began against a backdrop of ordinary household tensions: a $600 loan, a strained living arrangement and a nephew who said he was trying to move out of the home they shared.
Andrew Shane Scoffield, 44, told detectives that he had lived with his uncle, Jeffery Scott Scoffield, 68, for several months before their relationship deteriorated, according to a probable cause affidavit reported by East Idaho News and the Idaho State Journal. Andrew said the break came after he borrowed about $600 from Jeffery roughly two weeks before Aug. 30. He claimed his uncle began insulting him, calling him “his maid,” threatening him and cutting electricity to the basement area where Andrew stayed. Those statements are part of the defendant’s account to police, not findings that a court has accepted as fact.
The arrangement was ending by the afternoon of Aug. 30, according to Andrew Scoffield’s interview. He told police he was gathering belongings and moving out when Jeffery returned home and began arguing with him. Andrew said Jeffery shoved him against a door frame and later grabbed an aluminum bat. The affidavit says Andrew then used pepper spray, and the confrontation moved to the floor. Andrew described spraying his uncle again and using a large electric flyswatter, which he said struck Jeffery in the head. The older man ended up back in a chair and appeared to have difficulty breathing, according to the account police attributed to Andrew.
The prosecution case, however, is not based solely on Andrew’s description of the struggle. Police said physical evidence at the scene did not fully agree with what he told detectives. The detailed public reports did not identify every inconsistency, making it impossible from the available record to determine exactly which parts investigators disputed. Officers did report finding Jeffery dead in a living room chair with substantial pepper spray residue around him. That evidence became especially significant because police initially said they believed the spray may have impaired Jeffery’s breathing and contributed to his death.
The conflict inside the house was only part of a broader period of tension. A neighbor told investigators that Andrew had been riding a four-wheeler through the neighborhood in the days before the death, yelling profanities and behaving erratically, according to the affidavit. Court-document reporting also said the neighbor saw Andrew release air from a tire on Jeffery’s vehicle, a detail officers said they confirmed. Other accounts said Jeffery had deflated tires on Andrew’s ATV after complaints about his riding. The available evidence does not establish that the vehicle dispute was the sole trigger for the fatal encounter, but it shows that the relationship had become contentious in several areas before the men fought.
Money remains one of the clearest threads running through Andrew’s own explanation. The alleged $600 debt was modest compared with the potential consequences now facing him, but police reports portray it as a turning point in the household relationship. Investigators did not publicly release loan paperwork in the reports reviewed, and there is no indication that the amount itself was in dispute. What is known is that Andrew connected the borrowing to later hostility when he spoke with detectives. Police have not announced that the loan, by itself, was a proven motive for homicide.
The first person outside the home to learn how serious the confrontation may have become was Jeffery’s son, Joshua Scoffield. Joshua told police he received a missed call from Andrew and then a text indicating that Andrew believed he may have killed Jeffery with an electric flyswatter. Joshua tried to call his father but received no answer. He then went to the Park Avenue home, found Jeffery unresponsive and attempted CPR until emergency personnel arrived. Officers were dispatched to the 800 block of Park Avenue at about 3:15 p.m., and Jeffery was pronounced dead.
Andrew Scoffield told police he had left the house after the fight and gone to a friend’s residence, where he washed pepper spray from himself. Officers located him later that day. Pocatello police said he was taken into custody and booked into the Bannock County Jail on the night of Aug. 30. By the following day, prosecutors had filed a charge reported locally as second-degree homicide or second-degree murder. Police said no additional arrests were expected, indicating that investigators were treating the fatal confrontation as a case centered on the two relatives rather than a wider attack.
The exact medical explanation for Jeffery Scoffield’s death was not settled in the earliest reports. The Idaho State Journal said an autopsy was scheduled in Ada County and that investigators believed pepper spray may have been fatal because of its effect on breathing. National coverage placed more attention on the electric flyswatter because Andrew said it struck Jeffery in the head. Those are not necessarily conflicting facts: the affidavit describes both events during the same confrontation. But without a verified autopsy conclusion, it would be inaccurate to state that one object or action has been medically established as the sole cause of death.
Andrew made his first reported court appearance Aug. 31 by video from jail before 6th District Magistrate Judge David A. Hooste. Prosecutors sought a $1 million bond, and published accounts said it was set at that amount. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Sept. 14. Such a hearing concerns whether there is sufficient evidence for a felony case to continue, not whether the defendant is guilty. The reliable material reviewed for this report did not establish what occurred at that scheduled hearing or provide a confirmed later case milestone, so the public procedural status after that date remains unclear from the sources consulted.
If convicted of second-degree murder, Andrew Scoffield would face a serious sentencing range under Idaho law. Idaho Code provides that second-degree murder is punishable by at least 10 years in prison and may carry a life sentence. Early local reporting also cited a possible fine of as much as $50,000. Those penalties are only potential consequences. Andrew has not been convicted, and the allegations in a probable cause affidavit are the government’s basis for proceeding with a criminal case, not a final determination of what happened.
The defense position also remains only partly visible. Andrew’s police statement presents a confrontation in which he said Jeffery shoved him and armed himself with an aluminum bat before Andrew used pepper spray. Police, meanwhile, said evidence at the scene did not completely match his account. A public defender represented Andrew in the initial proceedings, and the Idaho State Public Defender’s Office was reported as declining to comment on pending cases. No later defense filing reviewed for this article clarified whether Andrew would argue self-defense, dispute causation, challenge the police account or pursue another theory.
Other details in the affidavit add context but do not answer those legal questions. Andrew reportedly told investigators he had used methamphetamine in the weeks before the death, and neighbors described unusual behavior in the area. The public record reviewed does not establish that he was under the influence during the fight, and no reliable source tied the reported drug use directly to Jeffery’s death. Similarly, the quarrels about electricity, household chores, vehicles and money may explain how strained the relationship had become without proving the intent required for the charged offense.
The homicide investigation transformed a dispute over a shared home into a case carrying the possibility of decades in prison. Yet several central issues remain unresolved in the public material: the final medical cause of Jeffery Scoffield’s death, the significance of the scene discrepancies cited by police, the full defense response and the case’s status after the scheduled Sept. 14 hearing. As of Oct. 19, 2026, no reliable update located for this report conclusively resolved those points.
Author note: Last updated October 19, 2026.