Jurors have been sent out to consider the fate of a Wisconsin engineer who stabbed a 17 year-old to death while tubing on a river, as prosecutors and defense attorneys battled over whether it was self-defense.
Nicolae Miu is a murderer who did not act in self defense, DA Karl Anderson told jurors in his closing arguments Wednesday – and said video of Isaac Shuman’s July 2022 killing proved his point.
‘One of the things the defense said at the beginning of trial and in their opening was they’re glad there’s a video,’ he said. ‘So are we.’
Anderson also rubbished claims Miu, originally from Romania, was scared when he stabbed Shuman – and said his behavior was the result of a bad temper.
‘Nikolae was not in fear, he snapped.’ Anderson said. The confrontation began when Miu began hunting for a friend’s phone while tubing on the Apple River – only to be accused of pedophilia by Shuman’s friends.
During closing arguments on Wednesday, prosecutors said that Nicolae Miu ‘did not act in self-defense’ when he stabbed a group of teens in the Apple River in July 2022. (pictured: Miu in court on Tuesday)
Isaac Shuman, 17, died after Miu stabbed him in his chest in the river. Miu also stabbed four of Schuman’s friends
Anderson added that Miu could have brandished the knife as a threat and scared Shuman and his friends off without resorting to violence, which saw four others stabbed and injured too.
He sought to play down assertions Miu had been cornered, saying: ‘He’s not in an alley with no way out, people blocking his exit
Corey Chirafisi, Miu’s lawyer, insisted his client had been rounded on and threatened by a fearless mob and that the stabbings were justified.
He said: ‘They got in his face, they screamed at him, they called him names, they swore at him.
‘They put their hands on him and the group of six, they became brave.
‘The group of six became brave to the point that they circled him and start taunting him.
‘They do this to a man who has done nothing, absolutely nothing to them.
‘Then, when that man, Mr. Miu, tries to create some space between him and Madison Coen, they pounce.
‘They punch him. They push him. They slap him. They hit him again.
‘They choke him. From, all directions. And Nic Miu acts in self-defense.’
Chirafisi highlighted how unafraid the boys seemed during the attack, their lies about him being a pedophile and that one was heard saying to Miu ‘You got 10 seconds.’
‘In your everyday experiences in life, when someone tells you that you have 10 seconds, what normally comes after that?’ Chirafisi continued. ‘Nothing good is coming after that. It’s reasonable in our experiences as adults to take that as a threat.’
Miu, of Prior Lake, Minnesota, claimed that he stabbed them in ‘self-defense’ after the group of tubers claimed that he was ‘looking for little girls’ and ‘taking pictures of girls’ in the area.
Late Tuesday, prosecutors added five additional charges – four counts of first-degree intentional homicide and one count in misdemeanor battery.
That could be interpreted as a sign that they know their case is in trouble. In Wisconsin, if jurors agree on a guilty verdict for the most serious charge, they do not have to consider verdicts for lesser charges.
Also on Wednesday, prosecutors sought to have a female juror they alleged was sleeping removed from the trial – but were unable to do so.
Judge Michael Waterman determined that there wasn’t enough evidence to strike the juror and denied her removal.
On Tuesday, Miu took to the stand and described how he feared for his life after they ‘surrounded him like wolves’ on the day of the attack.
Video of the chilling moment showed a member of the group stumbling into the river while a pool of red water emerged around him
Miu of Prior Lake, Minnesota, claimed that his lethal stabbing was ‘self-defense’ after the group of tubers claimed that he was ‘looking for little girls’ and ‘taking pictures of girls’ in the area
As he was shown pictures and video from that day, Miu said that he was touched by Madison Coen and Ryhley Mattison (pictured), two girls in the teen group, before the knife was drawn.
When asked about the violent confrontation, Miu said that he had ‘tunnel vision’ and was ‘in a fog’ during the heated situation.
He said that prior to interacting with the group, he had ‘volunteered’ to look for a friend’s lost phone in the water before he interacted with the teenagers.
As he was shown pictures and video from that day, Miu said that he was touched by Madison Coen and Ryhley Mattison, two girls in the teen group, before the knife was drawn.
He then said that as the interaction with the teens continued, his fear ‘crept up’ as they started to laugh and yell around him.
‘They were very close, they were really close to me. I could feel and hear them,’ Miu said.
Miu described how he reached for his pocket knife as his fear got ‘really high’ just before Madison placed her hand on his upper arm.
His reasoning for having the knife on him was that he was told to bring it to use to ‘tie’ the ‘tubes together’ while he hung out on the river with friends.
‘I was surrounded, they were yelling, they had just pushed me, and it seemed like they were not backing away,’ Miu said on the stand.
Miu added that during the ‘horror situation’ he was punched in the face by one of the teens and was pushed down in the water to ‘drown.’
In recorded interviews, Miu said: ‘All of a sudden, they were like wolves around me and they were attacking me from all directions and I truly, truly, feared for my life.’
‘They came on to me. They hit me, they got on top of me, and I don’t remember anything after that.’
During his testimony, he said that he didn’t know how many people were attacking him but he knew that there were ‘more than he could handle’ and that he has had ‘nightmares’ since.
He was charged with first-degree intentional homicide after Shuman died and four others were injured. He was charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide for their injuries.
A witness, Larrion Davis later told investigators that he saw the attacker ‘taking pictures of girls’ in the area.
Witness Larrion Davis was grilled by accused murderer Nicolae Miu’s attorney over his claims that he saw him ‘taking pictures of little girls’ before the horror stabbing
Miu’s then wife Sondra told detectives that the violent altercation began after Miu, whose group was farther up the river, went back to find a ‘phone that was lost’ while wearing snorkeling gear
However, as he took the stand last week, Davis appeared confused over this claim, and admitted he wasn’t sure what he saw because ‘there was a lot going on.’
Davis was questioned by Miu’s attorney over his statement to investigators during a March 2024 interview, almost two years after the attack took place.
‘You also said to the police, (Miu) came out of the bushes and he was taking pictures of little girls?’ the prosecutor asked.
‘Yes, I said that,’ Davis responded. When asked if he ‘saw that’, he responded, ‘I said that.’
‘I understand you said it, did you see it?’ they asked again.
Seemingly confused, Davis responded ‘Yes’, before the attorney asked him to clarify whether he witnessed Miu ‘with his camera that afternoon, taking pictures of little girls… that’s what you’re telling this jury?’
David responded: ‘Oh, no, no, no, that’s what I said.’
‘Like I said, I understand you said it, is it true?’ the attorney continued, to which David replied: ‘Oh, I don’t know.’
The attorney repeats the version of events again in an attempt to clarify his remarks, asking Davis: ‘That’s not true is it?’
At that point, Davis admits, ‘I guess so.’
On Monday, Owen Peloquin, 19, testified in court as he detailed the moment Miu attacked his friend group.
‘He just weirdly like sprinted at us, just made us all super uncomfortable,’ Peloquin said.
Peloquin was heard in the video saying ‘Yo, get away,’ but he said that Miu didn’t listen and instead grabbed onto their water tubes.
During his testimony, Peloquin said that he regretted calling Miu a ‘pedophile’ and wished that he and his friends acted differently that day.
When Shuman was attacked by Miu, Peloquin said that he didn’t see him get stabbed but rushed over to him and brought him to shore with his other friend Alex.
‘I tried my hardest to stop the bleeding,’ Peloquin said as he became visibly emotional.
Schuman was taken in an ambulance to the Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater where he was pronounced dead.
Ryhley Mattinson, A.J Martin, Dante Carlson and Tony Carlson were the other four teenagers stabbed that day
When asked about the violent confrontation Miu said that he had ‘tunnel vison’ and forgot what happened after the situation got heated
Ryhley Mattinson, A.J Martin, Dante Carlson and Tony Carlson were the four other teenagers stabbed that day.
Mattinson had to have emergency surgery and when she arrived her blood alcohol level was at 0.09.
Carlson suffered penetrating trauma from his stab wounds and had to have a hernia repaired and his blood alcohol level was also 0.09.
Miu’s then wife Sondra told detectives that the violent altercation began after Miu, whose group was further up the river, went back to find a ‘phone that was lost’ while wearing snorkeling gear.
While he was looking, Sondra said a ‘group of guys got off their tubes and started hitting’ him.
Miu pleaded not guilty to the charges in September 2022 and his attorney’s have continued to argue that the man stabbed the teens in an act of self-defense.
He was originally born in Romania and immigrated to the US when he was a teenager.
Sondra and Miu got divorced after the incident and he was ‘living a peaceful, quiet life in Minnesota’ and ‘had never been in trouble before.’