GUILTY WI - Six deer hunters killed, 2 injured in Sawyer County shooting, 21 Nov 2004

[mysteriew]

Angered about some noise from two photographer's cameras, a judge Saturday ordered that no more still pictures be taken in the trial of a Minnesota man accused of murdering six northern Wisconsin deer hunters.

Sawyer County Circuit Judge Norman Yackel made the ruling after attorneys for Chai Soua Vang complained that the camera noise during the testimony of a witness who held up the gun used in the shootings was distracting and possibly influencing the jury.

"I felt the click of the shutters was projecting itself into the proceedings," Attorney Steven Kohn said.

Kohn told the judge that he had worried about the camera noise before the trial and believed the media was going to take steps to deal with it.

"I just don't think that they can be trusted to follows the rules of the court," Kohn said.
http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/12613208.htm

 

[golfmom]

http://www.courttv.com/trials/vang/091005_ctv.html
........
What happened after that differs depending on the account, but ultimately, Vang opened fire on the men.

"Robert gets about 120 feet through the brush before he was shot through the back, exploding his heart instantly," Korte said. "He died without knowing what happened to his son, Joey, and the first person who found him was his son, Carter."

Joey Crotteau ran 468 feet, Korte said, before he was hit four times from behind.

Drew, 55, begged rescuers to give him his last rites after he was shot in the abdomen, Korte told jurors. He succumbed to his wound the following day.
......
Even a police witness became choked up as he recalled the moment he first came upon victims Allan Laski and Jessica Willers, dead from multiple rifle shots to their backs after coming to help their friends.

Terry Willers comforted his wife in the back row of the courtroom as the picture of his only daughter lit the dark courtroom.
........

 

[OriginalJerseyGirl]

What an absolutely awful case. The details sound like a scene straight out of a horror movie - people being massacred as they're trying to flee. Just horrible.

I agree that racial remarks are never acceptable. At the same time, neither is violence. What blows my mind the most about this case is that Mr. Vang was on private property, and then kills the family and friends of the owner of that property when asked to leave?

I'm going to have to read all of the links when I have a bit more time. I look forward to following this case with all of you.

 

[mysteriew]

One of Wisconsin's most notorious murder trials started Saturday in Northern Wisconsin. Minnesota truck driver Chai Vang is accused of opening fire on a deer hunting party, killing six hunters, wounding two others and changing lives forever.

The prosecution started the day with pictures of the six victims when they were alive, and ended the day with graphic crime scene video from the day they died.
http://www.wkowtv.com/index.php/news/story/p/pkid/22224

 

[tennessee]

I'm afraid I wouldn't make a good juror on this one. I believe this man is guilty of murdering those six people.


JMHO

 

[lisag]

I'm afraid I wouldn't make a good juror on this one. I believe this man is guilty of murdering those six people.


JMHO

I with ya there !! GUILTY !!!

 

[golfmom]

I with ya there !! GUILTY !!!

Oh Lisa! I am so glad to see you over here. I was going to pm you and ask you if you were interested in following along with us.

 

[lisag]

Yep, count me in, I will be following along...

 

[mysteriew]

Prosecutors will call as witnesses more than just the two men who survived wounds in the trial of a Minnesota man accused of killing six northern Wisconsin deer hunters in a barrage of at least 20 shots, Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager said.

Several people at or near the area will also testify into the Nov. 21 shootings at a Sawyer County deer camp, where 15 people had gathered, she said, without saying who the witnesses would be.

"I can't talk about witness priority," Lautenschlager said. "The trial is proceeding as we have planned."

The murder trial of Chai Soua Vang resumed Monday with Sawyer County Circuit Judge Norman Yackel saying he's willing to reconsider a ban on still photography he imposed Saturday after defense attorneys complained about camera noise.

Yackel said he would consider allowing cameras under the condition they were muffled. A decision was due later in the day.
http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2005/09/12_kelleherb_vangday2/

http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/local/12623099.htm

 

[mysteriew]

The trial of a St. Paul man accused of killing six northern Wisconsin deer hunters continued this morning with testimony from two law enforcement officers who were at the scene of the shootings last fall.

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources warden Brian Knepper described how authorities used a hunting license number from a tag Chai Soua Vang was wearing on his back to identify him. One of the hunters wrote the license number down in the dirt on the hood of an all-terrain vehicle after confronting Vang for trespassing.

Gerald Kotajarvi, a forensic expert from the Wisconsin state crime lab, described how he and other officers found numerous casings from cartridges Vang fired after the confrontation erupted. Vang claims he fired in self-defense.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1557/5609970.html

 

[mysteriew]

The attorney for a Hmong immigrant on trial for shooting six hunters in the Wisconsin north woods said his client acted in self-defense during opening statements in the trial Saturday.
http://crime.about.com/b/a/201747.htm

 

[Marine Mom]

Thanks for all the links, folks. I didn't know until I read some of these links that most of these people were unarmed.

As far a racial slurs (I hate to even type that out) I don't care what names he was called. Oh, here's a name for you buddy...Murderer!

 

[vanillasky]

I think of it this way.... if it happened the way I believe it did -

Can you imagine being surrounded by a large group of men of a different race than you, being called every vulgar racial slur in the book? That would make me fear for my life, that's for sure - I think any of these men - alone - wouldn't have been capable of instilling this fear in someone (as in, wouldn't have ever started this kind of confrontation w/ someone had they been alone) - but when you get a bunch of guys together - and that "good ol' boy" mentality" comes out - it would have been a scary thing to go through and would have caused me to want to defend my life as well. Even if some of them were unarmed at the time - I would still be fearful - all those angry, racial epithet spouting men could still be a threat to his life even w/o a gun - hands & feet can be deadly weapons. I do understand that he had to shoot so many of them - he couldn't have shot just one and got away - he would have to shoot many of them to be able to get away and save his own life. Yes, they say some were shot in the back as they ran away - but I think in the heat of the moment - he may have thought they may be running away right then - but could have been running for a weapon or might turn around to come back after him. I realize that he lied in the beginning and tried to say one of the other hunters did the killing and then tried to frame him - I am sure that he was terrified and being of a different country & culture - unfamiliar w/ the American legal system - tried to make up that lame story to save himself. I also don't think he told anyone what he had done on the way out of the woods because they likely wouldn't have believed him, and he probably felt at that moment that anyone not of Hmong background was out to get him - there is a lot of racism towards that culture in this area.


:truce:

 

[vanillasky]

From the article Mysteriew posted earlier this afternoon.... I think this just shows more of how they agitated & provoked him - by their own admission - he said sorry and turned to leave - that would have been the last they saw of Vang had they just left him alone and let him leave, like he was trying to do. Also, from the last paragraph below - this shows they also touched him first trying to flip that number down on his jacket. Also, after being surrounded - the one who approached Vang was armed - an aggressive gesture, IMO. I understand this was private property - but it blows my mind that they became so aggressive and confrontational to him - very uncalled for - would be one thing if Vang became immediately aggressive when told to leave - but as I said before from the article below - he apologized and was on his way out of there w/o another word. IMO, the quoted text below says a lot about what happened that day.

He began his testimony with a description of how he discovered the man he later learned was Vang in one of the tree stands on land that Willers co-owned with Robert Crotteau, who was killed that day.

Willers said that he informed Vang that he was trespassing and that Vang said he was sorry and asked directions to leave the property. Willers testified that the conversation was civil and he advised Vang to buy a plat book so he would be able to tell public land from private.

As Vang walked away, Willers used a walkie-talkie to tell others at his party's hunting cabin that he had asked a ''tree rat'' to leave their land. He explained that ''tree rat'' is his term for ''somebody who gets up in your tree.''

Defense attorneys had earlier suggested that the term may be a racial epithet.

Willers testified that Robert Crotteau got on the radio back at the cabin and said he wanted to talk to the trespasser.

Crotteau and several other members of the hunting party piled onto two ATVs and intercepted Vang and surrounded him, as Willers, the only one of his party who was armed, approached on foot, Willers said.

As Willers walked up, he could hear Crotteau raising his voice, telling Vang that the presence of permanent tree stands, allowed only on private land, proved that he knew he was trespassing.

''Mr. Crotteau said he wanted to see some identification. He repeated it several times,'' Willers said, adding that Crotteau was stern and probably swore.

He said that Vang didn't reply and moved to leave. ''Vang started moving towards them, and they kind of reluctantly moved back.''

According to Willers' testimony, Crotteau made a second fateful decision that day.

''Mr. Crotteau said, 'Let's get his back tag number,'' referring to the state license number deer hunters are required to pin to their jackets.

Willers said that Vang's number was flipped up so it couldn't be read. He testified that one or two members of his group reached up as Vang brushed past and flipped the number down. Willers testified that, as none of his party had a pen, he wrote the number in the dust on the front of an ATV.

As Vang walked away, ''Bob hollered at him in a somewhat louder voice. He said, 'We got your back tag number and we're going to turn you in to the sheriff for trespassing.' ''

 

[golfmom]

SS, I have to disagree with you here. It wasn't until after his tag number was gotten that things got out of control. Vang had been fined previously for hunting on private land and I think he was worried about the reprecussions of it happening again.

I think the whole defending my race is just a convenient, next day, excuse for what really occured out there. He hunted unarmed people down and shot them. He shot people fleeing in their backs ... He shot people who were unarmed coming to provide medical assistance to their friends.

He lied repeatedly and I believe that he's lying again when he says he felt physically threatened.
........

As Vang walked away, ''Bob hollered at him in a somewhat louder voice. He said, 'We got your back tag number and we're going to turn you in to the sheriff for trespassing.' ''

At the time of the shootings, another Wisconsin county had a warrant for Vang's arrest for trespassing while hunting in 2002 and failing to pay the fine.

 

[William N]

From his reaction, the defendant's only regret is that he didn't kill every single person he encountered at the tree stand. In case some people aren't aware of it, you are not supposed to climb in a tree stand on somebody else's property without permission. As for racial slurs, we only have the defendant's word for this. He has, shall we say, a self-interest in claiming this to have happened. From what I know of hunters, they are unlikely to have provoked a stranger carrying a gun.

 

[golfmom]

From his reaction, the defendant's only regret is that he didn't kill every single person he encountered at the tree stand. In case some people aren't aware of it, you are not supposed to climb in a tree stand on somebody else's property without permission. As for racial slurs, we only have the defendant's word for this. He has, shall we say, a self-interest in claiming this to have happened. From what I know of hunters, they are unlikely to have provoked a stranger carrying a gun.

Especially considering all but one was unarmed. Also, an expert testified that Vang had to reload, as many as two times.

The claim that he was lost and didn't know he was on private property is BS too ... he knew ... YOU NEVER GET IN ANOTHER MAN'S TREESTAND! He tried to hide his number and when the owners threatened to turn him in for trespassing is when he lost it, NOT when he was supposed called names, NOT when he supposedly felt physically threatened ... only when they said that they were going to call report him for trespassing.

 

[mysteriew]

Officers sent to the scene where six deer hunters were fatally shot found 12 spent rifle shells, all of the same caliber as the gun later seized from murder defendant Chai Soua Vang, a witness testified Monday.

One shell was found within 15 feet of one victim, 27-year-old Jessica Willers, said Gerald Kotajarvi of the state crime laboratory.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/12/AR2005091200792.html

In a hushed and transfixed courtroom, Terry Willers described late this morning feeling the impact of Chai Vang's bullet as it hit him.

''In a split second, I felt a burn and felt the ripple through my body,'' said Willers, who was one of two people who survived a confrontation in the north woods of Wisconsin that left six other hunters dead. ''I went to think about moving, and I couldn't move ... the only thing I could think of was that I couldn't help anybody, so I yelled that I'd been hit.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/5609970.html

Jurors heard two wildly different versions of the events leading up to the fatal shooting of six hunters in the woods of northwestern Wisconsin as the trial of a Minnesota man facing life in prison for the massacre opened Saturday.
http://www.courttv.com/trials/vang/091005_ctv.html

 

[Lady GL]

Hello everyone - after months of lurking I finally joined.

I live in SE Wisconsin and heard about this hours after it happened. Nothing, and I mean nothing has ever happened like this to any deer hunter. This was murder, most of the victims were shot in the back.

The LE is also exploring another deer hunter killed and looking into a connection:

On Nov. 23, 2001, Jim Southworth was shot to death as he hunted on family land 10 miles east of Neillsville in one of the only other homicides ever to be linked to Wisconsin's deer hunting season.

Southworth was shot twice in the back and both bullets exited his chest, an autopsy found.

Witnesses reported a pickup truck with three men inside on a road near where Southworth's body was found, about 80 miles south of Sunday's shooting.

The three men were described as Asian from 5-foot-4-inches to 6-feet. They were driving a silver or gray Nissan or Chevrolet pickup truck, possibly a late 1980s model with a light-colored fiberglass topper.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/nov04/278124.asp

My gut tells me this was Chai Soua Vang.......

 

[golfmom]

http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/nov04/278124.asp

My gut tells me this was Chai Soua Vang.......

Lady GL welcome to WS!!!! And congratulations on your first post. Hope you stick around and spend some time with us during this case.

Isn't this the case that authorities initially tagged as possibly being related to Vang? I never did hear anything after the initial report. Do you know if they investigated if he was involved?