You fed the deer in your yard, so I will torment you for months and then kill you, you Bambi-feeder!

2017-M-345            State of Minnesota, Respondent, vs. Neal Curtis Zumberge, Appellant.

BACKGROUND:  Neal and Paula Zumberge did not like it when their neighbors Todd Stevens and Jennifer Cleven fed wild deer in their yard.  The Zumberges circulated neighborhood petitions, sounded air horns to frighten the deer, and may have left mutilated squirrels in the neighbor’s yard.  The Zumberges’ son may have threatened to kill Cleven.  Cleven secured a restraining order.

In May, 2014, Cleven saw the Zumberge son in a bar and called police who arrested the son for an alleged death threat.   The Zumberge parents were informed.  When Cleven returned home that evening, she and Paula stood by their front doors and shouted at each other across the street.  The two men emerged and the shouting continued.  Zumberge retrieved his gun and fatally shot Stevens three times and wounded Cleven with a fourth shot.

After a Ramsey County jury convicted Zumberge on all counts, the district judge sentenced Zumberge to life imprisonment without release for the murder of Stevens and to 180 months for the attempted murder of Kl even.

HELD:  On this direct appeal, the Supreme Court affirmed Zumberge’s conviction and sentence.

The district court did not abuse its discretion when, by pretrial order, it excluded certain evidence proffered by appellant. The district court's exclusion of one piece of evidence was harmless error. The district court did not abuse its discretion when it denied appellant's request for a third-degree murder instruction. The district court did not err when it denied appellant's motion to dismiss the charge of first-degree murder.

Lillehaug (Gildea, Anderson, Stras, Hudson, Chutich, and McKeig)

Date: January 04, 2017

[CRIME] [MURDER][PREMEDITATED] [FIRST-DEGREE] [FEUD]