HUDSON, Wis. — Court reconvened in St. Croix County Wednesday for the trial of Nicolae Miu, who is accused of stabbing five people and killing one teen on the Apple River in July of 2022.
Nicolae Miu is charged with one count of first-degree intentional homicide and four counts of attempted first-degree intentional homicide for allegedly killing 17-year-old Isaac Schuman the afternoon of July 30, and injuring four others with a knife.
The prosecution says Miu had every opportunity to walk away from the altercation, while Miu's legal team is painting it as a case of self-defense.
3:41 p.m.
The last witness called on Wednesday was 57-year-old Eric Williams from the east metro. He was part of Miu's group on the river that day.
Prosecutors questioned Williams about what he knew about the phone that had allegedly been lost by someone in his group. Williams said he had concerns as Miu put on snorkeling gear and headed down river to find the phone because he didn't want anyone to think Miu "was up to no good," meaning he didn't want Miu to potentially be viewed as a predator interacting with children.
Williams said when he saw things start to happen between the group and Miu, he ran toward the altercation in an effort to help break it up. He said he remembered telling police in a later interview that he was worried about young kids being intoxicated and "wanted to stay as far away from them as possible."
Williams testified that he eventually called 911 "two or three times" after seeing the injured people on the river bank. He said he was the only person from his group who tried to render aid.
Following the stabbings and subsequent arrival of police and paramedics, Williams said he rejoined his group and continued to float, "ready to get off the river."
In cross-examination, Nelson asked if Williams believed, or had any reason to believe, Miu was a predator. He told the court he did not, but he was concerned about "what are other people going to think."
He went on to say he did not talk with Miu at any point after the physical confrontation, but when he came back from helping the injured, Williams said he observed Miu sitting quiet, describing him as having "a look."
Following Williams' testimony, the jury was dismissed and court adjourned. The trail will pick back up for its fourth day of testimony Thursday at 8 a.m.
3 p.m.
Sheena Lowell, a Nebraska woman who was tubing the river with her then-partner, Quinton Carlson, testified that she heard screams for help as her group floated closer to the unfolding incident. She said as they came around a bend in the river, the younger folks in her group, including Quinton's son Dante, got off their tubes and attempted to help the people they heard screaming.
Lowell said Madison was the first person she saw walk over to the group of teens and Miu, pointing down river and essentially telling Miu to leave them alone. That's when Lowell said she saw Miu punch Madison in the face before Dante punched Miu. She said Miu was knocked back into the water, resurfaced and then got to his feet. Lowell said Dante punched Miu a second time, but he didn't go down, instead she said she saw what looked like Miu hitting Dante back. Later she realized Dante had been stabbed.
After the stabbing, Lowell said she saw Miu retreat towards the woods.
When cross-examined, Lowell recounted that she saw Miu holding onto the boys' tubes, refusing to let them go. Lowell said she did not recall seeing Madison or Dante harass or physically accost Miu until things escalated into the first punch thrown by Miu.
Lowell said because she's a recovering alcoholic, she was sober that day and maintained she had a straight-on view of the incident, but as the defense pushed her, she conceded her view could have been potentially obstructed by the many people who stood between her and Miu.
2:20 p.m.
Larrion Davis, a 24-year-old from Minneapolis, was next to take the stand. He was also on the river that day with three friends.
He testified that as he started taking a Snapchat video of himself, he heard chaos erupt behind him. That's when he started shooting the incident with his phone.
Attorneys played the video for the jury, while Davis gave his version of events from that day. He said he and his friends helped two of the teens who were stabbed, describing one of them as "hysterical."
When cross-examined, defense attorney Nelson took aim at Davis' memory, as he recounted what Davis had reportedly said to police in various interviews since the incident occurred. Nelson pointed to a March 2024 interview with investigators in which he claimed Davis told officers he remembered the person with the knife wore a hat and "came out of the bushes."
Davis contested those details, saying he no longer believed his recent description was accurate. He told Nelson his memory was "foggy," but that he actually saw the assailant run into the bushes after the stabbing. Nelson also pointed to a 2022 interview, when Davis claimed his group was "just drinkin' and stuff; I wasn't really paying attention."
While Davis didn't object to making his previous statement, he went on to demonstrate how using his phone selfie-style enabled him to see the incident unfold behind him.
12:55 p.m.
Wednesday's afternoon session opened with a voir dire hearing to determine whether certain conversations between Nicolae Miu and his ex-wife Sondra Miu could be admitted into evidence during the high-profile first-degree intentional homicide trial.
Sondra Miu took the stand without the jury being present and spoke of being on the river that day with a group of about eight people, including her husband. Sondra Miu recalled the defendant getting off his tube and leaving the group, and then returning to have a conversation with her. At one point, she told the courtroom, he talked about a knife.
Prosecutors then asked Sondra Miu about jailhouse conversations she had with her husband. She said at times he tried to talk about the case, but she told him to stop, or she would get off the phone.
Judge R. Michael Waterman ruled that jailhouse conversations between Miu and his spouse could be admitted as it is assumed they would be recorded and are considered public. As for the conversations overheard on the Apple River, the judge ruled that they are assumed to be private, and will not be allowed.
When the jury was re-seated and testimony resumed, Sondra Miu was called back to the stand. She told the courtroom she and Nicolae met at a Twin Cities engineering firm, and then questioning turned to July 30, 2022.
Sondra Miu testified that her ex-husband had a knife before they got on the river, but that he brought it to cut the rope used to tie tubes together, a common practice on the Apple River. She said he returned to their Jeep after the tubes were tied, and thought he left it in the truck.
At one point in the trip, a friend in the group lost his cell phone and Nicolae Miu took his mask and snorkel and went to look for it. Sandra Miu told jurors she was sitting in her tube, looking at the sky and trees and enjoying the day when she looked up and saw her then-husband on his hands and knees in the water with someone hitting him.
She recalled Nicolae returning to their group and seeing chaos on the other side of the river where the confrontation took place, with one person getting CPR from first responders. "People were frantic... they were just going to people who needed help... I saw somebody pushing up and down on someone's chest. "
When questioned whether her then-husband had any injuries or marks on him when he returned from the altercation, Sondra Miu said there was no blood so she figured he wasn't hurt that badly.
Sondra Miu told jurors she was drinking water on the outing, and asserted that Nicolae Mui had only two beers while they were on the river.
Prosecutors asked if Sondra if she had spoken with her husband in the months since the incident, and she said that they had. She confirmed that during those conversations the defendant had expressed frustration with her and their group for not hearing his calls for help and failing to respond. Sondra Miu testified that they really couldn't hear him yelling, especially her, as she wears hearing aids and did not have them on the river.
During cross-examination, Sondra Mui was asked about their relationship. She recalled them meeting at work, and then dating for 3 years before getting married in June of 2011. Sondra Miu described him as a peaceful man who was handy at fixing things and was always willing to help out, adding that he frequently carried a "utility knife" and would regularly pull it out.
Defense Attorney Aaron Nelson asked the witness about Nicolae Miu's use of alcohol. Sondra Mui told the courtroom that he was a moderate drinker who would have a "couple of beers" from time to time. She was not concerned about his alcohol use on that day, she said, and insisted he was not impaired.
Nelson asked Sondra Miu if her husband had caused any trouble or engaged anyone during the trip on the river, and if she was worried he would cause trouble when he walked off to search for a friend's phone with his mask and snorkel. She said no, and went back to enjoying the day. The next thing she knew, she testified, he was on his knees with people hitting him and she quickly sent two men in their group to intervene.
11:35 a.m.
The next prosecution witness was 25-year-old Gabrielle Khazraeinazmpour, who was on the river with the Carlson group when they came upon a group of kids "asking for help."
Khazraeinaz told jurors that she was among others in the group that got up out of their tubes and walked towards the disturbance, saw Miu hit Madison Coen in the face near her cheekbone and then Dante Carlson punched the defendant, knocking him down into the river.
The witness told the courtroom that she didn't see Miu stab anyone, but did see his victims in the aftermath. Khazraeinaz testified that she called 911 and was on the phone with dispatchers when Ryhley Mattison walked up to her.
"She looked like she was having a hard time breathing and was bleeding down her side," Khazraeinazmpour recalled.
During cross-examination, defense attorney Corey Chirafisi pointed out several inconsistencies between her testimony and what she originally told police, including which hand he struck Coen with.
"I'm very bad with my lefts and rights," she answered.
Chirafisi asked Khazraeinazmpour how she felt when she heard the group of teens refer to Mui as a pedophile.
"Uncomfortable... concerned," she replied.
Chirafisi attempted to show jurors that the Carlson group jumped to conclusions about the defendant without having any knowledge about what was going on and who was at fault. When asked if Madison Cohen was "in his (Miu's) face" and swearing without knowing what led up to the altercation, she answered yes.
10:40 a.m.
A.J. Martin was the third stabbing victim to be called to the stand Wednesday morning. He told the courtroom that he and Tony Carlson were college roommates, and the adventure on the Apple River was the first time they'd seen each other in about three years.
Martin recalled noticing the disturbance involving the teens and Nicolae Miu, getting out of his tube and seeing the defendant punch their friend Maddie in the face. He told the jury about his experience breaking up fights while working as an aide in an elementary school, and explained that his intention was to stop the altercation.
"I saw someone hit him (Miu)," Martin testified. "I wasn't sure who, my intention was to go over there and break it up."
Martin recalled reaching down to restrain the man involved in the fight, who he would later learn was Nicolae Miu. He told the courtroom he suddenly realized he had been stabbed, his stomach was open and "my intestines were in my hands."
"After then, I began screaming viscerally," he shared.
Martin began sniffling, trying to hold back tears as he viewed video and still frames of him getting stabbed on the river. At one point prosecutors asked Martin if he would show the jury his scars from that day and the surgeries that followed. He unbuttoned his shirt, revealing a jagged, raised scar approximately a foot long.
During cross-examination, Martin was asked about his current relationships with those involved in the incident, telling the court he and Carlson are now roommates. Defense attorney Aaron Nelson tried to raise doubts about Martin's testimony, underlining how his version of events has changed from June 30 to today. Nelson emphasized the differences between Martin's memory, what he originally told police and the video version of what actually occurred.
Nelson underlined three different elements from the confrontation; Martin's recollection of how Miu allegedly grabbed Madison Coen by the hair and punched her in the face, how "a Black guy" originally punched Miu, and that he did not get physical with Miu before being stabbed. Nelson then referred to the videotape in an attempt to show Martin's memory of the events was not accurate.
"Fair to say that all those memories are wrong?" Nelson asked the witness.
The defense then questioned Martin about his self-described role as a peacemaker, asking if he could understand how someone in Mui's position, with someone hitting him in the front and Martin pushing him down from behind, would have trouble "using his words."
"The time for him to use his words would have been before he punched a woman in the face," Martin answered.
Nelson concluded his cross examination by asking Martin why he held Miu down, while a friend in front of the defendant was punching him, if he wasn't a fighter.
"Was it because you got caught up in the crowd?" he asked.
9:15 a.m.
The second witness called Wednesday was Ryhley Mattison, a 25-year-old woman who was with the third group that became involved in the incident.
Prosecutors asked Mattison if she was using chemicals that day, and she told them she had been drinking, smoking pot and was intoxicated. Mattison told the courtroom that she didn't remember all of the events of that afternoon but recalled that her group had stopped and somebody mentioned that another group on the river looked "uncomfortable." She got off the tube, walked over and saw Miu punch her friend Madison Coen. after which she was stabbed.
Mattison testified that she thought Miu had punched her as well, but looked down and saw blood pouring out of her.
"It didn't feel real, just a lot of shock," she told the courtroom. "I felt like I was dying."
At one point, after being asked to look at an image of herself laying on the blacktop after being stabbed, Mattison broke down and began sobbing.
Prosecutors then showed a series of video still frames that showed Mattison putting her hand on Miu's arm, and then perhaps positioning to shove him. Later in the tape, she is shown with an obvious wound to her side, trying to run away from Miu as he spun away from the altercation.
On cross-examination, the defense immediately addressed Mattison's state of intoxication, having her admit that she was drinking a lot and smoking a lot. They described her recollections of the event as "blurry chunks and blank spaces" with "gaps in her memory," statements she agreed with.
"I think I have a specific patchy spot where I'm trying to figure out what happened," she answered.
The defense challenged Mattison's testimony that she saw her friend Maddy being punched, and the witness agreed that she misspoke. "I shouldn't have said punched," Mattison testified, but insisted that Miu did make contact with her friend's face.
"I know I saw Maddy get hit," she insisted.
Defense attorney Aaron Nelson then began painting a picture of aggressive behavior by those who surrounded Miu, describing the group of screaming teens and others - including Mattison herself - who made it difficult for the defendant to remove himself from the situation.
"I mean, I'm like 110 lbs, he could have walked right past me," she retorted.
Nelson again emphasized Mattison's lack of recall when attempting to detail the encounter that led to her being stabbed, asking what she was doing, how her body was positioned and whether she was getting physical with Miu. "The story you've told yourself is that "he came up me," correct?" he asked.
"Yes," she said.
The witness
8 a.m.
Prosecutors started the day by calling witness Anthony Carlson, who goes by Tony. He said he was floating on the river with his brother Dante and a larger group when he heard screaming and went over to the altercation to de-escalate the situation. He was yelling at people to back up and get away,
The state went through video footage of the incident frame by frame, showing Carlson getting between Miu and the group of teens that included Isaac Schuman. The witness said he was yelling at the whole group to back up and get away from each other.
Carlson said he put his hand on Miu's back to tell him to back off from the girls in the group. He said Miu's hand came up and he batted it away, unknowingly redirecting Miu's knife down into his stomach.
"At the time, I didn't know. I thought it was just a punch," he told the courtroom.
Carlson told the court that Miu struck him again in the lower abdomen with a knife, making a second cut. The witness testified he didn't remember ever seeing a knife in Miu's hand.
During cross-examination, Mui's defense team attempted to paint Carlson as an unreliable narrator, pointing out that his testimony was different than what he told police following the incident.
When asked by the defense if and why his memories might have shifted since 2022 when he spoke to police, Carlson was to the point: "Yes, because afterwards, I was holding my friend's intestines," he shared.
The state showed a video of Tony's interview at the hospital after the stabbing occurred. "We heard someone scream, 'Help' and dad taught us when someone screams help, go help," he said.
The video records him telling the officer that his friend AJ Martin went over to help as well and got stabbed, though he didn't realize it at first.
"I thought [Miu] just punched him but he sliced him," he said. "I saw my friend literally have his stomach in his hands," adding that he sat with his friend, trying to hold him together until help arrived.
On Day Two of Miu's trial, prosecutors called the mother of deceased Isaac Schuman, who gave emotional testimony about her son's love for his family. Her testimony followed that of Jawahn Cockfield, who took the graphic cell phone video that captured the incident, including the stabbings and the aftermath.
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