Belle Plaine Hunter - Charged?

[22x]

You must be kidding me - this guy who had alcohol and marijuana in his system at the time of the shooting, get's 30 days in jail AND get's out for work???????? Oh & I forgot the $50 fine......

This guy clearly is not a "hunter" - a hunter would know better than to drink & smoke pot before/during the hunt & would know the safety rules of safe gun handling & hunting!! He shot at something that "snapped near him" - [PoorWordUsage]?

This guy should've been locked up for the rest of what is left of his life!! We can only hope that knowing that he killed his own son because of his stupidity will make the rest of his life VERY long & VERY painful!!!

[c&amagn]

I totally agree with you, but that's your MN State Liberals at work for you!!! If it wasn't for the great fishing and hunting in this state I doubt I'd be here because I can't stand MN Politics.

[Froggy4371]

"This guy clearly is not a "hunter" - a hunter would know better than to drink & smoke pot before/during the hunt & would know the safety rules of safe gun handling & hunting!! He shot at something that "snapped near him" - [PoorWordUsage]?"

Hunters also buy a license!!!!!!!

Froggy

[mrklean]

I agree with you guys totally but again would you rather be in jail for the rest of your life or have to live with the fact that you killed your child thinking he was a turkey???

[BRULEDRIFTER]

I would like to see him in prision for life living w/ the fact he recklessly blasted his son while drunk and high illegally hunting turkeys!

This guy should ROT!

[PierBridge]

Calm down for crying out loud!

Life in prison for accidentally shooting your son?

Get a grip guys!

[DTro]

He made the worst mistake a person could ever make.

I would trust that he will suffer the rest of his life, prison or not.

[mrklean]

He was also not drunk he blew a .06 which is below the legal limit

[MNice]

Would everybody feel the same way if he killed someone else, other than his child?

[witgey&water]

Drunk or not drunk this guy gives all hunters a bad image. I also don't think 30 day is enough. This guy could be out hunting this fall and shoot at some movement again. Who or what will he hurt or kill this time?

[BRULEDRIFTER]

Would everybody feel the same way if he killed someone else, other than his child?

Yes!

[BRULEDRIFTER]

He was also not drunk he blew a .06 which is below the legal limit

One can still get a DUI at that level. He was impaired no matter which way you slice it!

[PierBridge]

I understand the ANGER in here.

It's one of the worst things I've ever heard in my life there is no excuse whatsoever for what he did!

But to want this guy locked up for LIFE is a bit over the top IMO!

[witgey&water]

Does anyone know who the judge on this case was and if they are up for re-election this fall. This person definitely does not see eye to eye with the public on criminal sentencing.

[PierBridge]

Any other Judge would have ruled the exact same way in this case.

[DTro]

Also he should probably never be allowed to hunt again.

[MN Shutterbug]

Also he should probably never be allowed to hunt again.

I totally agree. He should also never be allowed to own a firearm again.

However, I do think he got off too easy but he does have to live with himself. That will more than likely be his worst punishment. Life in prison would be extreme.

[harvey lee]

I'm sure this fellow will live in pure h$ll for the rest of his life without us pounding on him. Yes, he made a very bad mistake and he is paying for it more than any of us realize. I would guess that his hunting privelieges has been suspended.

Placing him in jail for all of us to feel better would serve no purpose. He will pay for the crime as the laws are written. If we don't care for these laws, then we need to get ahold of our reps to have them changed.

Our courts have spoken and he has been sentenced within the law of the land. We are not the judge and jury.

I see no reason to continue slamming this guy in the forums as it will serve no purpose. Lets try to refrain from slamming this fellow and go on about our business.

There is no reason to continue to beat this to death.

[slabchaser]

( Note from Admin, Please read forum policy before posting again,thank-you. )

[walleyecaber]

I totaly agree with Harvey on this the guy will live with what he has done for the rest of his life and there is no reason to kick him when he is down and proubly at the lowest point in his life.That said sure he may not got what he had comin to him and you me any one else wont change that.The judge made his choice in what he thought was right and we as just bystanders have n0o reason to dought it.IMO

[frogtosser]

why are so many people defending him, I dont get it. not one thing this guy did was legal, no license, trespassing, and the substance stuff. even if he didnt shoot his kid he was setting a horrible example. jail or no jail that does not matter to me, I just dont want this guy in the woods or with a gun when I am out there, so I hope he lost all his hunting privlages

[Nate McVey]

Gotta agree with everyone here, those that say he is living with his punishment and those that say he should lose his privledges (hunting wise) for life. What he did certainly did not represent a responsible hunter or father and he is being punished for that, but he should not be allowed to hunt/own a firearm for life, IMO.

[harvey lee]

One thing we all need to remember is that we were not there and do not know the whole story or truth. Its pretty hard to judge someone when we have to go by what the press tells us as we all know that they have in the past been wrong in what they have stated.

[PierBridge]

why are so many people defending him,

Nobody is defending him at all.

I don't think we have to worry about him Hunting anytime soon!

[Surface Tension]

I would like to post a reply from Amber Klaseus. This is what she posted on the KARE 11 website.

"This is Amber Klaseus, the mother of Hunter and wife of Tony. We had been instructed by our lawyer to try and avoid the bad press and not to read the blogs on the internet, but now that it's all over - I cannot help myself by logging on and setting the record straight once and for all! First of all, as far as I know the only 2 people out in the woods that day of the terrible accident were Tony and Hunter! NONE of you were out there that day and NONE of you know first hand what happened that day, you are all just going by what you heard from the media! Ever heard the saying that "you can't believe everything you hear or read"? Well, it's TRUE! And shame on ALL of you who pretend to think you know us, our family or what happened that terrible day back in April! After having more than a thousand people at Hunter's wake and funeral services, I was thrilled to know that there are SO many GOOD people out there! However, after reading all the blogs and terrible things that people are saying about our family, I am DEVASTED to know that there are SO many CRUEL, HEARTLESS people out there too! Are you guys SO unhappy with yourselves and your lives that you have nothing better to do than to listen to what you hear or read, believe it and then sit back and throw stones at people you don't even know a thing about!? Who do you think you are to JUDGE us? Obviously, we can't be THAT bad of people or we wouldn't have had the enormous outpouring of support from the people who actually DO know our family! I don't appreciate you passing judgement on me as a wife or a mother - I had nothing to do with this situation! Had I had ANY concerns about the well-being of my children with their own father, I would not still be with him after 17 years together! If I can forgive him for ACCIDENTALLY taking my only baby son's life, then you all needn't be worried about it either! I'm positive that Hunter knows it was an accident and forgives him too, that's all that matters not what you all think! As mentioned over and over in the 70+ letters of support sent to the judge on behalf of Tony, he is a WONDERFUL, caring father who would do anything for anyone and would NEVER intentionally hurt anyone - ESPECIALLY his own children! In fact, it's too bad there aren't more involved, loving fathers out there like Tony! His son was his pride and joy and he is ABSOLUTELY devastated about what has happened! He has to live with those horrible visions for the rest of his life and he is punishing himself daily for it! For your information, on that fateful day my two girls and I were at my mother's house for the weekend making a scrapbook for my grandmother's upcoming 90th birthday party. I know that Hunter wanted to go out turkey hunting with his Daddy and I had NO concerns about it whatsoever! As I have NEVER had in the past either, with any of our children! Tony had merely FORGOTTEN to get a check from me to get a hunting license before I left town. If you check the DNR records as much as you all try to dig up other garbage about our family, you would see that Tony has ALWAYS had a license for hunting & fishing since he began with his father and family over 30 years ago! Also, Tony had not driven his truck for a month prior to the accident and had JUST gotten it fixed the night before. He and a bunch of guys had gone to our cabin to ice fish a couple of weeks before and just hadn't emptied the beer cans out of the BACK of the truck bed yet. That is also where they had casually smoked marijuana, however if any of you had any knowledge about that also, you would know that it stays in your system for 30+ days. I'm not saying that I approve of his use of alcohol or marijuana, but rather that I can understand that he is human and made mistakes, as you ALL have at one time in your life or another! If you haven't and you are perfect, then why all the fake screen names that you have all used in these blogs?! Are you hiding behind your computer and are afraid to show your true identity in case others may dig up some dirt about you in your past?! I'm not - that's why I logged on with my REAL NAME! I'm sure that some of you are going to take what I've said here out of context, twist it around and merely take bits and pieces of it like most media outlets have done since Day One, but there's nothing we can do about it besides put our side of the story out there and hope that you can put yourself in our shoes and "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". However, some of you choose to make it sound as though he just got all drunk and high, saw some turkeys on the side of the road, jumped out with his little boy, ran onto some stranger's land and aimed at his son! That is SO far from the truth, it's NOT EVEN FUNNY! They went out hunting early in the morning that day, ate breakfast at a local diner after they came back in and went back home for the day. After lunch Tony had a few casual beers, as men sometimes do on a Saturday afternoon hanging around the house and then they took a nap. Tony's sister had wanted them to come to her house in Minneapolis to visit for the night since the girls and I were gone and they had nothing else to do. However, they hadn't heard from his sister and Hunter kept begging Tony to go out hunting again to try and get the large tom that they had heard earlier in the morning. After a few hours of bugging, Tony finally gave in to Hunter's requests to go back out into the woods, since his sister apparently wasn't home yet. Since Tony had only had a few beers a few hours earlier - he didn't have ANY concerns about the small amount of alcohol in his system (hence the .05-.06 amount noted, which was under the legal limit to drive). They had permission to hunt on the land they started on and unfortunately chased the turkeys onto the adjacent land. If any of you know anything about hunting, you would know that turkey hunters always wear camouflage and paint their faces also! Unfortunately Hunter had not stayed where Tony had told him to and he had run up to where the turkeys were. He apparently was crawling to avoid scaring the turkeys and appeared to Tony as a tom turkey fanning out when he jumped up. By NO MEANS am I placing ANY blame on Hunter, but I don't doubt that he hurried up to be by his Daddy, because he LOVED his Daddy, was ALWAYS by his side and never wanted to miss out on the action! Tony has never denied that he made mistakes and has taken responsibility for his actions from the very beginning. I don't think that it's fair that he, nor me, nor our family deserves to be ridiculed and judged - especially after all we have already been through! Obviously, no matter what sentence he would have received there would have been people upset on both sides. It doesn't matter what everyone else thinks of it and it was not meant to please either side, it was meant as a punishment and we are OK with it. It wasn't the best and it wasn't the worst, we're just glad that it's almost over and we can try to get on with our lives as best as we can! Lastly, there is NO reason to talk bad about the Judge and our Attorney, they were just doing their job and we are satisfied with the results. We agree with the Judge that what better way to spending some of his community service hours teaching others to learn first-hand from the man who made the mistakes that Tony made that particular day, would be beneficial to other hunters. Accidents happen in the woods everyday - just ask anyone and I'm SURE everyone has a story of an accident or a near-miss! I TRULY believe in my heart that this WAS INDEED just a terrible, tragic accident and that everything happens for a reason. We might not know what it is now, but hopefully will learn from it and be able to find some meaning out of all of this someday, some way!? I know my husband and I know how beer affects him. I KNOW for a fact that the chemicals in his body that day had ABSOLUTELY NO affect on him and DID NOT impair his judgement leading to what happened out there that day in the woods! It could've been that Hunter fell out of a tree or even got hit by a car when going back to the truck that night!? I believe that when your number is up, your number is up and it was Hunter's time to be called home to God. Unfortunately it had to happen the way it did, but I rest assured knowing that Hunter was where he would've wanted to be, doing what he would've wanted to be doing and with whom he would've wanted to be with at the time of his passing into the next life! Although we don't get to choose how, where and when we die, if we had to lose our son, we would have wanted him to be with one of us and in our arms as he was, instead of lying by himself in the middle of a street after getting hit by a car, or been kidnapped and tortured, or worse yet - gone missing, such as poor little Jacob Wetterling! As awful as it all is, we ask you to PLEASE did deep into your souls, find some compassion and understanding and find the strength to forgive and forget the sins that WE ALL have made in each and every one of our lifetimes! Please take the time to "think before you speak (or blog)" and "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all!" We would also like to THANK those of you who actually have some compassion and take the time to get the facts straight before passing judgement. To the rest of you, your judgement day will come soon enough and it won't be from other people blogging - it will be from the big guy upstairs, and you probably will not be joining him up there in heaven, I would guess from some of the horrible, spiteful things that some of you have said!?"