Byron Johnson Wake Comments
January 6, 2013
Hi, I’m Peter Morrill, general manager of Idaho Public Television.
Assassination: Idaho’s Trial of the Century was quite an undertaking. And as Bruce suggested, Byron was
pivotal to its success.
So what does this program say to me as I think about Byron’s life?
Well, it personifies striving – perhaps pushing – to do things that are beyond your ability.
Gordon Hinckley put it simply, “Do your best and be a little better than you are.”
I think Byron was always trying to be better than he was.
His obit in The Statesman gave us an idea of what I’m talking about: … graduating with honors from
Boise High, scholarships to Harvard, played college basketball. And I understand striking out a young
Harmon Killebrew at one ballgame, graduating from Harvard Law, a successful law career, raised four
kids, Matthew, Ethan, Elaine and Laura, preserved Idaho City history, had the good sense to marry
Patricia, served on the Idaho Supreme Court as its vice chair, was an author, took up poetry, and always
engaged in the community – The Cabin, the United Fund, public radio and many other volunteer efforts.
He always seemed to be striving to hone our rough, Idaho rock of civilization into something better, or
as Wallace Stegner aptly described it, “Hope was always out ahead of fact, possibility obscured the
outlines of reality.”
So in my mind, Byron was both a striver and a dreamer.
When the Assassination: Idaho’s Trial of the Century project came along, it fit him perfectly. He pushed
himself, and he pushed us to realize the story’s full potential. Its scope was outside of our collective
comfort zone.
But this seemingly musty and forgotten tale really is a parable for our modern times.
Today, when we read about killings, kidnappings, renditions and trials, in a way we’re relearning the
forgotten lessons that were taught to us a century ago in a hot Boise courtroom, in a state that 16 years
before was a frontier territory. The case, argued by the likes of Clarence Darrow, William Borah and
James Hawley, grabbed the attention of our nation, putting a young state firmly on the map of our
country’s awareness.
Byron, thanks for pushing us to tell this story, and also prodding us to be better than we really are.