Centre County man acquitted of premeditated murder, other charges after Michigan trial
A Spring Mills man who was charged in the fatal Christmas Eve shooting of a man at a cabin in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula was acquitted Wednesday, a TV station reported.
Nicholas Millard, 31, was found not guilty by a jury of all charges, including first-degree premeditated murder, after an eight-day trial in Michigan, WLUC-TV reported.
Millard was charged in the December death of Thomas Fletcher, 49, of Michigan. Austin Fletcher, who was 22 at the time of the shooting, was wounded and hospitalized but recovered.
Defense lawyers Sarah Henderson and Victoria Herro, the TV station reported, argued the shooting in Marenisco Township was accidental. Among those who testified was a firearms and ballistics expert.
“The jury took its job very seriously, and it was clear that they were careful and attentive throughout the trial and deliberations,” the lawyers wrote in a statement.
Gogebic County prosecutor Nick Jacobs said he spoke with jurors after the verdict, the TV station reported. The jury, he said, did not feel prosecutors provided enough evidence to prove the shooting was intentional.
“I did get insight from them that, had there been a lesser charge of manslaughter, they would have found him guilty of that,” Jacobs said.
Neither Henderson, Herro nor Jacobs immediately responded Friday to a request for comment.