Nicolae Miu is found guilty of first degree homicide of boy, 17, during tubing trip after gang of teens accused him of being pedophile
Nicolae Miu has been found guilty of the first-degree intentional murder of a 17-year-old boy after he was surrounded by a gang of teenagers while tubing on a river in Wisconsin.
Miu, 54, an engineer, was convicted Thursday morning in the September 2022 stabbing death of Isaac Schuman on Wisconsin’s Apple River.
The convicted killer was also found guilty of lesser charges of stabbing and wounding four teenagers: three boys and a girl.
He sat silently with his head bowed as the verdict was read after less than a day of deliberation. The trial lasted eight days, with more than three dozen witnesses taking the stand.
The families of Miu’s victims were heard breathing a sigh of relief, said Kare11 reporter Lou Raguse.
As he was then led away, Miu was seen turning and staring at his surviving victims and their families.
Miu looked at his surviving victims and their families as he was found guilty of first-degree reckless homicide on Thursday, meaning he faces up to 60 years in prison.
Isaac Shuman, 17, died after Miu stabbed him in the chest in the river. Miu also stabbed four of Schuman’s friends
Nicolae Miu sits with his head bowed Thursday morning as he is found guilty of the intentional, premeditated murder of 17-year-old Isaac Schuman
Miu, of Prior Lake, Minnesota, claimed his fatal stabbing was “self-defense” after the group of goons claimed he was “looking for little girls” and “taking pictures of girls” in the area.
First-degree reckless homicide was the third option available to jurors, after first-degree intentional homicide and second-degree murder.
It carries a prison sentence of up to 60 years.
Jurors were dispatched Thursday afternoon to review the case, with prosecutors refuting claims that Miu acted in self-defense.
They claimed he could have sent his attackers away by waving his knife, without resorting to violence.
The Romanian-American engineer claimed he acted in self-defense.
He was looking for a friend’s lost phone in the river when he was falsely accused of being a pedophile who took photos of young girls.
Video of the interaction showed the teens harassing Miu before he pulled out a Swiss Army knife and began stabbing them.
When Shuman was attacked by Miu, Owen Peloquin said he didn’t see him being stabbed, but rushed over and brought him to shore along with his other friend Alex after they realized it.
“I tried my hardest to stop the bleeding,” Peloquin said, becoming visibly emotional.
Schuman was taken in an ambulance to Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater, where he was pronounced dead.
Ryhley Mattinson, AJ Martin, Dante Carlson and Tony Carlson were the other four teens stabbed that day.
Mattinson had to undergo emergency surgery and when she arrived her blood alcohol level was 0.09.
Carlson suffered penetrating trauma from his stab wounds and had to have a hernia repaired and his blood alcohol level was also 0.09.
As he testified in court on Monday, Peloquin said Miu “just sprinted towards us weirdly, made us all super uncomfortable.”
Rhyley Mattison, one of the teens who stabbed Miu, was seen in court last Thursday testifying in the case
During closing arguments on Wednesday, prosecutors said Nicolae Miu “did not act in self-defense” when he stabbed a group of teenagers in the Apple River in July 2022. (photo: Miu in court on Tuesday)
On Wednesday, jurors were sent out to consider Miu’s fate as prosecutors and defense attorneys fought over whether it was self-defense.
Nicolae Miu is a killer who did not act in self-defense, prosecutor Karl Anderson told jurors in his closing arguments — and the video of Isaac Shuman’s July 2022 murder proved his point.
“One of the things the defense said at the beginning of the trial and in the opening was that they’re glad there’s a video,” he said. ‘That’s how we are.’
Anderson also denied that Miu, originally from Romania, was scared when he stabbed Shuman – saying his behavior was the result of a bad mood.
“Nikolae wasn’t afraid, he snapped.” said Anderson.
Anderson added that Miu could have brandished the knife as a threat and scared off Shuman and his friends without resorting to violence, which also saw four others stabbed and injured.
He tried to play down claims that Miu had been cornered, saying: “He’s not in an alley with no way out, people are blocking his exit.”
Corey Chirafisi, Miu’s lawyer, insisted his client was captured and threatened by a fearless mob and that the stabbings were justified.
He said: ‘They got in his face, they shouted at him, they cursed him, they cursed him.
“They laid their hands on him and the group of six, they became brave.
‘The group of six became so brave that they gathered around him and began to taunt him.
When asked about the violent confrontation, Miu said he had “tunnel vision” and forgot what happened after the situation became heated
‘They are doing this to a man who has done nothing, absolutely nothing, to them.
‘When that man, Mr. Miu, tries to create some space between him and Madison Coen, they pounce.
‘They hit him. They push him. They hit him. They hit him again.
‘They strangle him. From all directions. And Nic Miu is acting in self-defense.”
Chirafisi highlighted how fearless the boys seemed during the attack, their lies that he was a pedophile and that someone told Miu: “You have 10 seconds.”
“If someone tells you in your everyday experiences in life that you have ten seconds, what normally comes next?” Chirafisi continued. ‘Nothing good comes after that. In our experiences as adults, it’s reasonable to view that as a threat.”