OAN’s Abril Elfi
3:37 PM – Thursday, April 11, 2024
Nicolae Miu has been found guilty for fatally stabbing a teen and attacking four others during a water tubing brawl on the Apple River in Wisconsin.
On Thursday, a jury found Miu guilty of first-degree reckless homicide, four counts of recklessly endangering safety, and one count of battery for the 2022 stabbing fight that killed Isaac Schuman, 17.
The 54-year-old also stabbed four other people part of Schuman’s friend group following a brawl that revolved around a missing cell phone.
The defendant claimed that he was acting in self-defense after the group taunted him and accused him of being a pedophile.
Miu reportedly told authorities that the group that were between the ages of 17 and 24-years-old had attacked him and he “was in self-defense mode.”
While tubing with his wife and searching for a lost cell phone with a snorkel, the group surrounded him and taunted him, and the man retaliated with a rope-cutting knife.
The St. Croix County District Court panel handed down the verdict to which defense attorney Aaron Nelson said he was surprised and “respectfully disappointed” by it.
“In many ways, self-defense is a community standard,” Nelson said, according to the Minneapolis newspaper. “And it’s very dependent upon which group of 12 people within the community you ask.”
Prosecutors stated that Alexander Martin, Dante Carlson, Anthony Carlson and Rhyley Mattison were also stabbed during the fracas and Madison Coen was attacked.
While Miu had allegedly stated that he had pushed Coen because she was yelling at him and invading his personal space, witnesses however said that Miu had punched Coen, which sparked the fatal altercation that one of Schuman’s friends shot on camera.
Over the course of the eight-day trial, about 30 witnesses—including the defendant himself—took the stand.
The prosecution argued that Miu “snapped” out of rage. However, defense attorneys claimed that after a heart attack and quadruple bypass surgery two years prior, he had felt helpless, scared, and exposed.
Miu’s sentence will be set for a future date where he is now facing over 100 years in prison.
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