Jurors heard Nicolae Miu’s side of the story Tuesday — including a lie — that he told an investigation the night of the deadly confrontation.

Miu’s interview with Lt. Brandie Hart of the St. Croix County sheriff’s office was played for jurors, a formal statement in which he said he took a knife from one of the tubers who were attacking him July 30, 2022, on western Wisconsin’s Apple River. He said he did not have a knife with him.

That claim is contrary to what a cellphone video showed, what witnesses testified and what Miu’s own attorney said in his opening statement, when he acknowledged that Miu lied in his interview with Hart.

Miu, 54, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the death of 17-year-old Isaac Schuman and attempted first-degree intentional homicide for wounding four others. Tuesday was the seventh day of his trial in St. Croix County Circuit Court in Hudson.

Hart was called to the stand after the medical examiner who conducted the autopsy on Schuman testified. The prosecution told Judge R. Micheel Waterman those two witnesses were the last two they planned to call to the stand. The trial then shifts to the defense.

It’s unclear whether Miu will testify. He’s been jailed in lieu of a $2 million bond since the stabbings. If convicted of the intentional murder charge, he could be sentenced to life in prison.

‘Feared for my life’

Miu told Hart in the first few minutes of the more than hour-long interview that he acted in self-defense.

He said the confrontation started when they called him a child molester.

He said they hit him in the back and a girl slapped him in the right ear.

“I feared for my life,” he said. “I was very shocked. I was extremely shocked.”

Miu denied carrying a knife to the river. Instead, he claimed he had wrestled a knife away from one of the males who confronted him.

“They were on top of me,” he said.

DAY 6: Defense says Miu was being taunted before stabbing

He said he grabbed a tuber’s knife and “twisted it” and jabbed and swung.

Later, Miu asked Hart what happened to the others. She told him one had died and four others sustained injuries.

“Oh no,” Miu said, then asked if they were fighting with each other. Hart said she did not know.

Miu then put his head in his hands and said, “Oh my god.”

Miu said his whole life was “down the tubes.”

“I don’t know, people have a right to defend themselves,” Hart said.

Miu said he was “sorry for how it ended up.”

Medical examiner testifies

The medical examiner who conducted the autopsy on Isaac Schuman said the teen suffered a 4-inch stab wound that cut through two ribs, a lung and his heart.

Victor Froloff, an assistant medical examiner for the Ramsey County medical examiner, examined Schuman’s body on July 31, 2022, a day after the 17-year-old was killed. Schuman was wearing swim trunks, and had been wearing a golden-colored bracelet. He weighed 134 pounds and was 6 feet, 1 inch tall.

A toxicology test showed Schuman’s blood-alcohol content was 0.219 and no other substances or drugs were found in his system, Froloff said.

In the final report, Froloff said Schuman died of exsanguination, or bleeding to death as a result of a stab wound to the left chest, and the manner of death was homicide.

WEEK ONE RECAP: Victims, friends, law enforcement testified

Under cross-examination, Nelson noted his BAC was more than 2½ times the legal limit to drive.

Froloff said he did not watch video of the confrontation or look at still images from it.

Nelson asked Froloff questions about how the wound became that deep.

“If a body is moving toward that knife, that’s going to impact the depth of the wound, agreed?” Nelson asked.

“Yes,” Froloff said.

“And if a 6-foot, 134 (pound) person is moving toward (sic) into that knife, that might make the knife go deeper, correct?” Nelson asked.

“That’s, again, I can’t predict how deep exactly, but it’s a possibility,” Froloff said.

This is a developing report and will be updated.

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