Juan Carlos Fuentes Pina, one of two men convicted for the 2005 Twin Falls slaying of Jesse Naranjo, had his conviction dropped by the Idaho Supreme Court on Wednesday, for a technicality connected with his 2006 trial.

The five-justice high court ruled 3-2 that the conviction must be vacated because a Twin Falls jury was given improper instructions by the judge before deliberating the case.

A jury convicted Pina of first-degree murder, after he was accused of participating in a kidnapping of Naranjo, which ended in his death outside a Twin Falls drug house. State code allows suspects accused of kidnapping in a murder case to be charged with first-degree murder.

Johnny A. Shores, the triggerman in Naranjo's death, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter for shooting Naranjo in the abdomen after an argument between the three men in the house.

In that argument, according to court documents, witnesses said Naranjo was led into the house by Pina. The court documents said Naranjo was ordered to his knees by Pina. After a scuffle with the weapon, Naranjo tried to escape the scene, was shot and later bled to death from his injury.

Shores was given 23 years in prison, with the possibility of parole after 7 1/2 years, and testified against Pina in his trial.

At the trial overseen by 5th District Judge Richard Bevan, Pina's counsel argued that the court had "presented no evidence indicating that the death resulted from any type of common plan or design between Pina and Shores."

During jury instructions, according to the court documents, Bevan told the jury that if Pina kidnapped, or attempted to kidnap Naranjo, and that if "during the commission or attempted commission of the kidnapping, Jesse Naranjo was killed" Pina may be be found guilty of first-degree murder.

Justices Warren Jones, Jim Jones and Pro Tem Justice Wayne Kidwell - who was heard the case for an absent Justice Daniel Eismann - agreed that the jury was given improper instruction. Justices Roger Burdick and Joel Horton dissented.

Twin Falls County Prosecutor Grant Loebs disagreed with the decision, calling it "very complex." Loebs said he has asked the Attorney General to request the high court to re-examine the case.

Loebs said Pina will not be released from prison, however, since he was convicted for other charges, not just the death of Naranjo.

"In any case, he's not going to walk out of prison," Loebs said.

Read more on this story in Friday's Times-News.