Man Killed After Fishing Argument on St. Croix River

[upnorth]

Here is a link to the story on the Duluth News Paper.

If the story is accurate it never actually escalated to a fight. Again if it is accurate.

Snippet

Quote:

"He said, ’You guys better knock it off. You’re going to say this to someone else, and it’s not going to be good. You can’t be swearing at people,’ " Michael Kelly said. "Pete wasn’t a big fighter. He just wanted them to get off the river. He told them, ’This isn’t the way you act. you need to get in the car and leave.’ "

The men argued back and forth, and as the argument got more heated his brother noticed one of the men pulled out a knife, Michael Kelly said.

"He stabbed him right in the heart with it," Michael Kelly said. "Pete ran back to his friend, saying he was stabbed."

Stabbing

[delcecchi]

In this case, there was no racial element to complicate things. And there are millions of citizen police interactions every year and only a few go that bad.

There was even an incident in Rochester a few years (2002) ago that had all the cable news/etc elements where a police officer shot a guy when he grabbed his pistol instead of his taser. For some reason, tasers look a lot like semi-auto pistols.

I don't recall any repercussions except perhaps a civil suit. No riots anyway.

http://www.theppsc.org/Archives/Firearms-Safety/minnesota_cop_accidentally_shoots_man.htm

Anyway, I guess we will hear the stabber's story soon. Driving across the river to get in a fight with some unknown guy and his buddies still seems like it was a bad idea to start with, even not knowing how it ended.

[Slabasaurus]

It seems more and more we are hearing about how a cop using a taser is dragged under the bus by the ACLU or a cop drawing and heaven forbid using his weapon results in being dragged through the mud.

Where are you hearing more and more about a cop using a taser and having them be dragged under the bus by the ACLU?

[Slabasaurus]

Anyway, I guess we will hear the stabber's story soon. Driving across the river to get in a fight with some unknown guy and his buddies still seems like it was a bad idea to start with, even not knowing how it ended.

I am still having trouble imagining what it's like to yell across a river for hrs at someone... much less driving across a river into another state to confront someone.

[nofishfisherman]

From what I've read recently the guys drove across the river because they were on their way home. They saw the other group in the parking lot so they stopped to confronted them. After that details differ depending on which friend you talk to.

The friends of the suspect say Kelly tried to drag the guy out of a car and that's when he got stabbed one time through the heart. Kelly's friend tells a different story. Both seem to agree that the suspect pulled the knife during the argument and Kelly saw it.

Not sure what the truth is but why would Kelly try to pull a guy with a knife out of a car? That doesn't seem to make sense to me. You'd have to be stupid to do something like that knowing the obvious risk now that a weapon is involved. Either the suspects friends aren't telling the truth or the victim wasn't real bright, or possibly both.

[Deet]

This case is extremely interesting and even more saddening.

[delcecchi]

Innocent people are not known to flee the scene of a death they caused...... are they???

...

Say hypothetically that the stabber and his buddies had been drinking/smoking weed, etc enough that they didn't want to take a blood test. He goes home, stashes anything that he might have hypothetically had that was unlawful, waits a day or two and turns himself in. It is straight out of the Amy Senser playbook.

Or maybe he was sober as a judge, and just panicked after defending himself from an attack by some guy.

[nofishfisherman]

Yeah I don't think you can read too much into the guy running. It would be easy to panic in a situation like that. You can sit at your desk safe and sound and tell us what you'd do in the same situation but when it really comes down to it none of us really know how we'd react.

[bobberineyes]

They say the three guys were smoking a little Mary j and doing some fishing. I'm not taking sides here but if Kelly's Clan were "just fishing "and not throwing back a few, totally sober, better decisions could have been made. There are so many questions that needs to be answered, the whole thing just sucks, we've all been in situations close to this, one time or another, but like was mentioned earlier. ...cool heads prevail.

[delcecchi]

Charges filed.

From pioneer press.

Quote:

Minnesota man, 19, charged in St. Croix angler's stabbing death

By Andy Rathbun

A 19-year-old Minnesota man has been charged with first-degree reckless homicide in the fatal stabbing of a Wisconsin fisherman during an argument on the banks of the St. Croix River.

Levi C. Acre-Kendall of Cambridge was charged Friday in Polk County (Wis.) Circuit Court after turning himself in to investigators the previous day. A cash bond was set at $125,000 during an initial appearance, and he remained in the Polk County Jail on Friday afternoon.

Prosecutors say Acre-Kendall stabbed Peter Kelly, a 34-year-old father of five who lived in St. Croix Falls, Wis., during an altercation on the river Tuesday evening.

Two teenagers who were with Acre-Kendall and the man who was with Kelly have given their accounts of how the stabbing took place on the Wisconsin side of the river, about 40 miles northeast of the Twin Cities.

The teens said they were about to leave when Kelly tried to pull Acre-Kendall out of a car, according to the complaint.

Ross Lechman, who called 911 about 9:45 p.m. Tuesday to report that his friend had been stabbed, told investigators that Acre-Kendall had shown the knife earlier in the argument and later said, "Yes, yes, I stabbed him."

Lechman said he was looking in another direction when Kelly came up to him and said, "We got to go," then started running away, telling his friend, "He stabbed me."

Lechman ran to Kelly, who was lying on the ground and having difficulty breathing and speaking, and performed CPR, the complaint states.

Emergency medical personnel found Kelly bleeding heavily from the left side of his chest and took him to St. Croix Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, according to the complaint.

The Anoka County (Minn.) medical examiner's office said Kelly died of a stab wound to the left side of the chest with an associated injury involving the heart, the complaint states.

The stabbing followed an argument that began several hours earlier, when Lechman and Kelly were fishing on the Minnesota side of the river and the teenagers were fishing on the Wisconsin side. Lechman and Kelly later drove over the U.S. 8 bridge to Wisconsin, and the stabbing happened near a boat landing at Interstate State Park. The complaint does not offer details about what caused the argument.

On Wednesday, the Polk County sheriff's office issued a plea for the public's help in finding the teenagers.

At the scene, investigators found a Walmart receipt that they were able to trace to a fishing license purchased by an Isanti teenager. A concerned citizen later reported that the teen and three others, including Acre-Kendall, had been fishing at Interstate State Park over the weekend.

An attorney later called the Polk County district attorney to say Acre-Kendall and two other teens were involved in the incident and wanted to cooperate, the complaint states.

Acre-Kendall's mother turned over to investigators the knife believed to have been used in the incident, as well as the clothing her son was wearing that night, the complaint states.

A call to an attorney listed in court records for Acre- Kendall was not immediately returned.

A preliminary hearing in the case is set for Wednesday.

He has a facebook page. Looks like a normal guy, interested in cars and motorcycles. Just graduated HS last spring.

Here is a map of the wisconsin side of Interstate Park

http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/parks/name/interstate/pdfs/interstatemap.pdf

[BobT]

Where are you hearing more and more about a cop using a taser and having them be dragged under the bus by the ACLU?

If you search the "ACLU against using tasers" you'll find all kinds of information from their HSOforum that points to recent efforts to reduce and in the case of the ACLU probably eliminate their use.

[delcecchi]

Today's update from Pioneer Press.

http://www.twincities.com/crime/ci_27968161/st-croix-river-stabbing-was-self-defense-lawyer

Quote:

A 19-year-old Cambridge man accused of killing a young father last week on the Wisconsin bank of the St. Croix River acted in self defense, his attorney argued Wednesday in Polk County circuit court.

Defendant Levi Acre-Kendall and victim Peter Kelly of St. Croix Falls were part of two fishing groups that argued across the river on the evening of April 14, investigators say. The argument turned physical when Kelly and his friend crossed the river and surprised Acre-Kendall's group in the dark, attorney Eric Nelson argued.

Kelly, 34, was stabbed after trying to wrestle Acre-Kendall out of a car, Nelson said in arguing for a dismissal of reckless homicide charges against his client.

Judge Molly GaleWyrick denied Nelson's motion for dismissal.

Acre-Kendall remains in Polk County jail awaiting arraignment May 4.

[charliepete]

The fact is if this guy had got in his car and went home, his kids would still have a father. His brother is all over the news calling these kids punks and saying his brother did the right thing by confronting them. Not in my book. He might be an upstanding guy, but in this case it sounds like like some 34 year old former big time wrestler traded insults with some punk kids after having had maybe one too many beers himself. Instead of getting in his car and going home, he decides to drive a few miles to the other side of the river to teach them a lesson. He probably would have done it to given his wrestling background and the fact that he was a full grown man and from the looks of it these were a bunch of string bean teenagers. He probably wasn't counting on getting stabbed when he tried pulling one of them out of the car. I look back on different parts of my life and can see myself as both the punk kid and the older guy who probably should have just got in the car and went home. I am glad I wised up before anything like this happened to me. I feel bad for all involved. 5 kids without a dad, and some kid just out of high school with his life ruined.

[RebelSS]

Well put, charliepete. No one ever wins in an escalating confrontation. I'm sure this one will turn into"conjecture and supposition", but the facts are when things start to escalate, if you can, just walk away. Seen far too many where one ends up paying the ultimate price.

[Kyhl]

I am torn on the walking away part.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

The better choice would have probably been to call the law. I am curious why he chose to confront the teenagers on his own rather than report a nuisance.

[delcecchi]

I am torn on the walking away part.

The better choice would have probably been to call the law. I am curious why he chose to confront the teenagers on his own rather than report a nuisance.

I am assuming it was some mixture of alcohol, testosterone, and civic responsibility, along with some failure to envision all of the possible outcomes.

[CaptainMusky]

The better choice would have probably been to call the law. I am curious why he chose to confront the teenagers on his own rather than report a nuisance.

This... Its one thing to tell someone how you feel and quite another to pull them from their vehicle (if true). Its really sad this happened, but better decisions could have been made all around.

[nofishfisherman]

The whole situation is sad and so easily avoidable. The lawyers are trying to claim self defense which is probably their best chance but from the latest reports it looks like both of these guys were equally aggressive. One guy may have made first contact (not sure who) but it seems clear that both were active participants in the altercation and neither were going to back down from an apparent shoving match that seemed to start things.

Given that both seemed like active participants the self defense claim is going to be hard to prove especially since the younger guys were trying to get the older two to come across the river. If you try baiting people into a fight it makes it hard to claim self defense.

Either way it boils down to two hot heads getting into a fight and one of them taking it too far. Neither one was in the right and the results are one is dead and the other one just ruined his entire life at the age of 19.

[DrJuice1980]

I look back on different parts of my life and can see myself as both the punk kid and the older guy who probably should have just got in the car and went home. I am glad I wised up before anything like this happened to me. I feel bad for all involved.

+1

[BobT]

The thing that caught my attention is (assuming it's true) if the defendant was in his car, it would seem he tried to leave the situation but the other guy wasn't about to allow that. If a guy was trying to drag me out of my car I'm sure the last thing on my mind is that he just wants to talk.

[nofishfisherman]

Thats the one part that is unclear to me and it would be the one possible avenue for a viable self defense claim. So far based on what has been reported its hard to determine at what point he supposedly tried to drag him out of the car. Its been hard to figure out an exact timeline of events and also to make sense out of the two sides of the story.

The only thing that is clear is that both sides were active participants in the dispute and both seemed to want a face to face confrontation.

[Tom7227]

In Minnesota the prosecution has the duty to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the claim of self defense is not legally applicable. I expect that Wisconsin law is similar or the same.

The way it works is that the defense gives notice of the claim. There is a hearing and evidence is presented. The judge then rules whether the claim of self defense can be presented to the jury. If it is allowed the case goes forward and the prosecution has to prove that self defense is invalid.

The issue that I see as pivotal is whether the level of action was correct - was the danger so high that a knife to the chest was proper. The very short pieces of film that I saw a few days ago suggests that this is going to be the key point in the case.

Cases involving self defense are extremely fact specific. Quite honestly the speculation in this thread comes no where close enough to even begin to unwind what happened and whether the person is guilty or not. In fact the only opinions that matter will come from the 12 people in the jury if this case goes that far.

[delcecchi]

Of course. And all we know of the circumstances is what was in a few newspaper articles.

The one fact is that the "victim" went out of his way to confront the other group. I don't know how important that is.

It is interesting to get a legal perspective on the case.

[Getanet]

Tom, it sounds like you know what you're talking about. I don't. But to echo what you said, from the longer account I read on the Star Tribune yesterday, it sure seemed like it's going to come down to a lot of he-said/she-said. The only thing that seemed consistent from the testimony given was that it was extremely dark out and nobody really got a good look at what happened.

I'm certainly not a lawyer, but when I was reading the story I couldn't help but think it's going to be awfully tough to convict the teen when nobody clearly saw what happened. Throw in the fact is sounded like all witnesses had been drinking, or smoked some pot - and it just doesn't seem like there would be enough hard evidence for a jury to convict the kid of murder.

[leech~~]

Throw in the fact is sounded like all witnesses had been drinking, or smoked some pot - and it just doesn't seem like there would be enough hard evidence for a jury to convict the kid of murder.

Well, I would go with the "evil booze" defense because everyone knows Pot doesn't effect your thinking and judgement abilities!!

At least that's what we are being told in every TV News and News paper report lately.