Be careful whom you introduce to your wife at a small-town bar!

2016-M-321         State of Minnesota, Respondent, vs. Marcus Michael Barshaw, Appellant.

THE CRIMES:  Barshaw met Mandy and Jeff Schutz in June, 2012 in Rockville.  Barshaw and Mandy secretly met, drank alcohol, smoked marijuana, and had sex together throughout the summer in Rockville and Barshaw’s home two hours north in Walker.

Late in the evening on October 20, 2012, Barshaw called Mandy to drive to Walker.  When she got there around midnight on October 21, he loaded a rifle and a handgun in the trunk.  They returned to Rockville at around 2:30 a.m.  Mandy entered the house to argue with Jeff and retrieve a jar of marijuana and a bottle of brandy.  Barshaw and Mandy locked themselves in a nearby motor home and smoked marijuana.  Jeff and his cousin pounded on the motor home’s door.

Around 3:30 a.m., Mandy emerged from the motor home and shared a cigarette and a quiet conversation.  At no point that morning did Jeff shout at or threaten Barshaw. 

Suddenly, Barshaw emerged from the motor home, shouting at Jeff and brandishing the rifle.  As Jeff’s cousin watched, Barshaw chased Jeff down an alley and back to the motorhome.  Jeff pleaded with Barshaw not to shoot.  Barshaw fired three shots, puncturing Jeff’s heart, spinal column, and both lungs.  After a pause, he fired six more shots. Then Barshaw fled into the woods with his weapons.

Police searched the area from 4:30 to 8:00 a.m. and found Barshaw in the basement laundry room of a nearby apartment building.  Barshaw had brandished his weapons at a resident of the building, then moved to point his handgun at a deputy who wounded him with a Sigle non-fatal shot and another officer disarmed him.

THE TRIAL:  Barshaw waived his right to a jury trial and the matter proceeded to trial before the court. At trial, the State presented eyewitness testimony from both Mandy and Konz identifying Barshaw as the person who shot and killed Jeff. The State also produced eyewitness and forensic evidence to support the State’s theory that Barshaw premeditated Jeff’s murder from the time Barshaw left the motor home with his rifle to the time he fired the shots. As to the first-degree assault charge, the State offered testimony from Deputy Meemken, as well as a number of other officers present at the scene of Barshaw’s arrest.

For his part, Barshaw asserted both an intoxication and an alternative perpetrator defense to the first-degree premeditated murder charge.  The alleged alternative perpetrator was Jeff’s wife, Mandy.  In the alternative, the defense asked that if the judge found that Barshaw pulled the trigger of the murder weapon all nine times, he also find that Barshaw did so without premeditation or intent, but instead as a snap response.

The district court found Barshaw guilty of first-degree premeditated murder and the other counts and rejected Barshaw’s intoxication and alternative perpetrator defenses, as well as the argument that he pulled the trigger as a snap response.  The judge found that the shooting was premeditated.

As to the first-degree assault of a peace officer charge, the court found that “[b]y failing to comply with multiple law enforcement commands to disarm and surrender,” and “by continuing to approach Deputy Meemken with a weapon and by opening the back door while holding the handgun in a threatening position, Defendant acted with intent to cause Deputy Meemken fear of immediate bodily harm or death by the attempted use of deadly force.

After entering judgments of conviction on the first-degree premeditated murder and first-degree assault of a peace officer offenses, the district court sentenced Barshaw to life imprisonment without the possibility of release.  The court also imposed a consecutive 120-month sentence for the conviction of first-degree assault of a peace officer. 

THIS APPEAL:  On this direct appeal, the Supreme Court affirmed Barshaw’s convictions and sentences.

First, because the evidence of premeditation was sufficient, the district court did not err in convicting appellant of first-degree premeditated murder.

 Second, because the evidence of appellant’s intent to cause a peace officer to fear immediate bodily harm was sufficient, the district court did not err in convicting appellant of first-degree assault of a peace officer.

Gildea (Anderson, Dietzen, Stras, Lillehaug, and Hudson)

Took No Part:  Chutich.

[CRIME] [MURDER] [PREMEDITATED] [FIRST-DEGREE] [DOMESTIC] [DRUGS] [POLICE] [GILDEA]

Date: May 25, 2016