HELENA, Mont. (AP) – A judge is expected to sentence a Montana homeowner on Thursday in the shotgun killing of a German exchange student who had been trespassing in the defendant’s garage.
The sentencing of 30-year-old Markus Kaarma was set after a Missoula jury convicted him of deliberate homicide in the death of 17-year-old Diren Dede (DEER-in day-day) in December.
The case caused an outcry in Germany and brought scrutiny to Montana’s “castle doctrine” law that can allow the use of deadly force to protect home and family.
Defense attorneys argued unsuccessfully that the law allowed Kaarma to use deadly force to defend his home.
One Missoula lawmaker has since drafted a bill saying such use of force would only be justified if an intruder made a violent entry into an occupied structure.
Kaarma shot Dede in the garage in the early hours of April 27 after being alerted to an intruder by motion sensors. Dede was unarmed.
Kaarma could face a minimum of 10 years in prison.
Before sentencing, District Judge Ed McLean will hold a hearing on a motion by Kaarma’s attorneys seeking a new trial. They contend that extensive news coverage of the case prevented the seating of an impartial jury. As an alternative to a new trial, they want the judge to declare a conviction on a lesser charge of mitigated deliberate homicide.
The lawyers said they plan to appeal to the Montana Supreme Court if the motion is rejected.
Prosecutors argued at trial that Kaarma was intent on luring an intruder into his garage and harming that person.
Three witnesses testified that they heard Kaarma say his house had been burglarized and he had been waiting up nights to shoot an intruder.
Before the killing, Kaarma left his garage door partially open with a purse inside. Later, he fired four shotgun blasts, pausing between the third and fourth shots, witnesses said.
Lead detective Guy Baker testified that the first three shots were low and seemed to follow Dede as he moved across Kaarma’s garage. But the fourth shot was aimed higher and struck Dede in the head, Baker said.
Kaarma’s lawyers argued that the Missoula man feared for his life, didn’t know if the intruder was armed, and was on edge because his garage had been burglarized at least once in the weeks before the shooting.
The self-defense principle is a centuries-old premise that a person has the right to defend their home against attack. More than 30 states, including Montana, have laws expanding the right of people to use deadly force to protect their homes or themselves, some known as “stand your ground” laws.
Kaarma said in court in December that he never intended to hurt anyone that night.
Dede, from Hamburg, Germany, was studying at Missoula’s Big Sky High School and intended to leave the U.S. after the school term ended a few weeks after the shooting.
His parents, Celal and Gulcin Dede, testified in December that they were unable to work or plan for the future after their son’s death.