HUDSON, Wis. — Jurors will reassemble Thursday morning to continue deliberating the case of a 54-year-old engineer accused of killing a teenager and stabbing four others in an explosion of violence on the Apple River in July of 2022.
Prosecutors and the defense team for Nicolae Miu made their final pleas for a St. Croix County jury Wednesday morning during closing arguments in the high-profile homicide case.
Miu is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the stabbing death of 17-year-old Isaac Schuman, and four counts of attempted first-degree intentional homicide for allegedly stabbing four others who survived. Judge R. Michael Waterman ruled that jurors can consider lesser charges when deliberating the verdicts.
It is a complex case built on video shot of the initial conflict and the stabbing spree that followed. Just 90 minutes into deliberations the jury asked Judge Waterman to view portions of the videotape.
Day 9 - Deliberations
8 a.m.
Jurors assembled Thursday at 8 a.m. and immediately made their way into the courtroom, where they watched the short video clip that began with Nicolae Miu coming up on a group of six teens, escalated, and then ended with multiple people stabbed, including 17-year-old Isaac Schuman.
The defendant looked down at the desk he was sitting behind, not lifting his eyes until the video ended.
Judge R. Michael Waterman asked if they wanted to view the clip again, no juror indicated they needed to, and the jury was dismissed to resume deliberations.
Day 8 - Deliberations
4:30 p.m.
The jury returned to the courtroom to ask to continue deliberations Thursday morning. They also asked to re-watch the cell phone video taken by Jawahn Cockfield starting 10 seconds before Miu's confrontation with Madeline Coen. The jury will re-watch the video when deliberations resume at 8 a.m.
At some point, two jurors — a male in their 40s and a male in their 60s — were removed. There was no explanation for why they were removed from the jury pool.
2 p.m.
After being out for just over 90 minutes, the jury requested to view some of the video clips shot of the deadly conflict on the Apple River. Judge R. Michael Waterman ruled that jurors could view the clips, but that he would not allow the video to be released into the jury room and they would have to come back into the courtroom to see them.
Both the prosecution and defense constructed their cases heavily using the Apple River video, and regularly referred to specific clips both during testimony and throughout closing arguments.
Day 8 - Closing arguments
11:08 a.m.
Defense attorney Corey Chirafisi opened his closing argument by painting a different picture of the events that transpired on the Apple River on July 30, 2022.
"A group of drunk teenagers... saw an opportunity to torment a man who was by himself," Chirafisi alleged. "They did this for no legitimate purpose."
The defense told jurors that six drunk teenagers "quickly turned into 13. 13 against one," suggesting that with backup the teens became the aggressors, surrounding Nicolae Miu in a semicircle while pointing, taunting and mocking him.
"They do this to a man who has done nothing - absolutely nothing - to them," Chirafisi said.
Chirafisi told the courtroom that the group of "drunk teenagers" targeted Miu so they could humiliate him, videotape and post it on the internet. "For the culture," one of the teens screamed on the clip Chirafisi played for jurors.
Before getting deeper into the conflict on the river, Chirafisi told jurors that Miu's defense team will ask them to judge the defendant's beliefs - not his actions - reminding them that prosecutors have to prove Miu's beliefs were unreasonable and that the stabbings were not a case of self-defense.
Chirafisi pointed out that multiple witnesses gave differing versions of the interaction between Miu and Madison Coen, which allegedly ended with Miu punching Coen. He told the courtroom that Coen showed no signs of getting struck, no red marks, no puffiness, saying she didn't drop her drink, her vaping pen, or her cell phone. Chirafisi told jurors it's more likely the defendant did not hit her, but pushed Coen instead to "get her out of his face."
"There is no duty to retreat," Chirafisi argued, contradicting the prosecution's position that Miu needed to leave the situation. "Madison Coen doesn't get to make these decisions, people... he doesn't have to leave. He doesn't have to go, and there's nowhere to go."
The defense broke down the final 14 seconds of videotape that is central to the cases of both the defense and prosecution. That short clip captures the explosion of violence that included Miu being punched in the face and pushed before stabbing five people with his pocketknife. Chirafisi noted that prosecutors broke the tape down into stills, and insisted that life doesn't happen like that. "It's just not how we live our lives... you're supposed to see things happen as Nic Mui did," he stated, noting the quick-developing chaos that unfolded.
Chirafisi described how Dante Carlson punches Miu in the face multiple times, A.J. Martin pushes him down, Tony Carlson puts his hands on him, yells and then one second later, Schuman comes up and physically engages. "It's coming at him from all sides, and this man is terrified," the defense attorney said.
He noted that during a jailhouse interview with St. Croix County Sheriff's Lieutenant Brandie Hart, Miu puts his head in his hands and says his life is over. Chirafisi quoted Hart, a battle-tested 25-year law enforcement veteran, as saying "I don't know what I would have done, but I can tell you I would have been scared shitless."
"You get to decide what a reasonable person would do in that situation," Chirafisi prodded jurors.
Prosecutors got the final word in closing arguments, attempting to refute what the defense laid out for jurors. In his rebuttal Deputy District Attorney Brian Smestad asserted Miu's defense - and his story - is littered with lies. Smestad told jurors that the defendant is skillful at crafting a story, pointing to Miu telling investigators that the teens pulled his pants down, that two of the boys pulled knives on him, and that he turned one of those weapons on the assailant.
"He is a skilled a prolific liar," Smestad insisted.
Smestad continued by calling Miu's time on the witness stand Tuesday "a disaster," saying he was caught in lies, remembered details that benefit his defense but forgot those that support the prosecution's case.
"How many times did he say on the stand, I don't remember," Smestad said.
Smestad's voice took on an angry tone as he told the courtroom the one thing he never wants to hear again once the trial is over is that what happened on the river was the fault of Schuman and his friends.
"It is not their fault - I will say it 100 times - it is not their fault," Smedstad fumed. "These boys have beat themselves up every day since this happened. You saw their raw emotion on the stand.. their best friend was murdered by this guy. And to say it's their fault is despicable."
"He's a bizarre person, he made bizarre choices that day," the prosecutor concluded.
After some brief comments by the judge, jurors were excused just before 12:20 p.m. to begin deliberations.
8:48 a.m.
After reading detailed jury instructions for the panel that will decide the fate of Nicolae Miu - and explaining the thresholds that must be met to prove various charges - Judge R. Michael Waterman got closing arguments underway with the prosecution leading off.
St. Croix County District Attorney Karl Anderson opened with a clear statement reflecting the prosecution's case. "Absolutely senseless acts of violence - and all Nicolae Miu had to do was walk away. All he had to do was walk away."
Anderson replayed video jurors had seen during the trial of Miu running towards Dante Carlson, the final victim, and stabbing him. Anderson noted that no one was surrounding the defendant at the time, no one was hitting Miu, and that the defendant could have left the scene.
"That's retribution, not self-defense," Anderson insisted.
The district attorney said he would not defend the actions of the teens in the first group who encountered Miu on the river, saying they were cruel in taunting the defendant and calling him names. But that did not justify pulling a knife and attacking people, Anderson maintained.
Anderson then turned to Isaac Schuman, the 17-year-old who died on the river that day. He showed video that showed Isaac standing in the background while his friends mocked Miu. Anderson told jurors the defense mischaracterized Schuman's actions, saying the teen only became involved when he attempted to help victims Miu had stabbed. When Schuman pushed him away, Anderson says, he was fatally stabbed in the heart.
Anderson attempted to convince the jury that Miu's claim of self-defense is not valid, opining that the defense's stance that Miu was outnumbered "13 to one" as the incident unfolded is untrue. The prosecutor used still images while asserting that only one or two people were engaged with the defendant at any given moment, and also questioned Miu's claim that he was afraid, pointing to images of Miu turning his back on his alleged assailants.
"Nicolae wasn't afraid, he was angry," Anderson insisted.
The county attorney worked to discredit witnesses in Miu's group, pointing to differences in their testimony and what they originally told investigators following the incident nearly two years ago. Anderson questioned the claims of both Ernesto and Ariel Torres that they didn't see Miu involved in an altercation with anyone or stab anyone.
Anderson went through Miu's interactions with each victim, attempting to prove that Miu was not defending himself but acting as the aggressor. He said when the defendant punched Madison Coen it wasn't self-defense, it was an act that set off the chain of events that would lead to Schuman's death and four others being badly injured.
"This was not justified self-defense and Nicolae knew it - He knew it before he did it," Anderson asserted.
The prosecutor played a bodycam video of Miu talking with a law enforcement officer after his arrest and saying he saw the incident but not admitting he was involved. "Acting like he had no idea of what was going on. Clearly not in shock, looking out for Nicolae," Anderson told jurors.
Anderson also disputed Miu's recurring claim that he was in shock, saying the defendant clearly knew what he was doing. The prosecutor noted that the defendant disposed of his knife on the riverbank, and subsequently lied to the sheriff and lead investigators by saying the teens pulled a knife on him.
Anderson closed by insisting Miu's actions during the explosion of violence on the Apple River clearly show the intent necessary to convict him or first-degree intentional homicide, but asked jurors to consider second-degree intentional homicide or first-degree reckless homicide if they can't agree on the more serious charge.
8 a.m.
Several motions were made before St. Croix County District Court Judge R. Michael Waterman prior to the jury being seated to hear closing arguments. Among them, was a request from the state to dismiss a juror who prosecutors say was sleeping during jury testimony Tuesday.
St. Croix County Attorney Karl Anderson told the judge that a member of his team witnessed a female juror with her head down, waking with a startle several times during the direct testimony of St. Croix County Sheriff's Lieutenant Brandie Hart, specifically during the playing of a video of Hart's jailhouse interview with Nicolae Miu. Anderson requested that the judge dismiss that juror and appoint an alternate to deliberate the case.
Defense Attorney Aaron Nelson opposed the motion and Judge Waterman agreed with him, saying he looked at jurors several times during the segment and saw no one sleeping. The juror will remain on the case.
Day 7
Tuesday's proceedings are a microcosm of what the case will come down to. Miu himself took the stand to testify, with defense attorney Aaron Nelson asking the defendant questions that painted him as the victim of an angry mob who was belittled, punched, pushed down in the river and had no choice but to use deadly force in defending himself.
"Did you believe you needed to use that knife?" Nelson asked as he wound up his questioning.
"Absolutely," Miu said. "I believe I would have been killed that day."
The state spent its cross-examination of Miu by hammering at what they saw was chance after chance to walk away from the confrontation between the defendant and two other groups on the river that day. Prosecutor Brian Smestad painted Miu as the instigator, attempting to underline each step of the conflict that would eventually become deadly, and emphasizing each opportunity that the defendant had to diffuse things or walk away completely.
If the jury finds Miu guilty of first-degree intentional homicide, he faces a possible sentence of life in prison.
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