(Spirit Lake)– A Dickinson County District Court judge has negated a jury’s guilty verdict against a man charged in a fatal shooting.
A jury last year found 56-year-old Kenneth Neilson, Junior guilty of involuntary manslaughter by a reckless act.
It stems from an incident in July of 2007 in downtown Spirit Lake. Prosecutors claimed Neilson was recklessly handling a firearm in his apartment when it went off. The bullet struck Marlan Lutterman of Worthington, Minnesota who was on the street below…killing him.
Neilson’s attorney, Ned Bjornstad, filed a motion for judgement of acquittal at the conclusion of evidence in the trial. The judge at the time allowed the trial to continue. The motion for acquittal was renewed earlier this month, and the judge issued his ruling for acquittal March 5th.
In the ruling, Judge Patrick Carr cited Neilson’s consistent testimony during the trial, adding there was no substantial evidence in teh record to support a guilty verdict. The judge also cited statements made at the trial by Assistant Attorney General Virginia Barchman in which she speculated to the jury that possibly the defendant was dry firing the weapon at the window. Judge Carr added in his ruling that a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt can’t be based upon speculation.
The case against Neilson has now been dismissed and his bond cleared.
