Free Republic

The attorney for a Montana man charged in the death of a 17-year-old German exchange student says the teen and a companion had broken into homeowners’ garages three of four times before the shooting. Paul Ryan represents Markus Kaarma, who is charged with deliberate homicide in the April 27 slaying of Diren Dede in Missoula. […] Ryan says the Ecuadorian student told police the boys started “garage hopping” after learning about the practice from other students at their high school. …

District Judge Ed McLean has denied a motion to change the trial venue for Markus Kaarma, the Missoula man accused of fatally shooting a German exchange student in his garage last April. In a 208-page motion to move the trial, Kaarma’s attorneys argued that local media reports have tainted Missoula’s jury pool by painting Kaarma as a “cold-blooded killer.” Katie Lacny, who filed the motion, argued her 30-year-old client has been held captive in his Grant Creek home and received death threats as the media “aroused sympathies and created a community outcry against” him. “The pretrial publicity has stirred up...

MISSOULA, Mont. - A Montana man accused of fatally shooting a German exchange student in his garage pleaded not guilty to murder Wednesday, Reuters reports. Last month, 29-year-old Markus Kaarma, of Missoula, allegedly shot and killed 17-year-old Diren Dede, of Hamburg, Germany, after the teen broke into his garage. The former U.S. Forest Service firefighter has been charged with deliberate homicide, according to the news agency.

A Montana couple frustrated by recent thefts allegedly set a trap for potential burglars—and upon hearing a would-be intruder after midnight on Sunday, the husband fired four shots into the darkness, he says. Now, Markus Kaarma of Missoula has been charged in the death of German exchange student Diren Dede, 17, who was hit by bullets in the head and arm, the AP reports. The couple had set up sensors and cameras around their garage, whose door they left open; Kaarma's wife, Janelle Pflager, left her purse there "so they would take it," she said, per court documents. She reportedly...

HELENA, Mont. -- A western Montana man charged in the shooting death of a 17-year-old exchange student in his garage is receiving death threats and is afraid to leave his home, the man's attorney said Tuesday. Markus Kaarma, 29, was released from jail Monday after posting a $30,000 bond on a charge of deliberate homicide in the death of Diren Dede of Hamburg, Germany. Since then, Kaarma, his partner Janelle Pflager and their 10-month-old baby won't leave their Missoula home after receiving the threats, attorney Paul Ryan said. "They're really on edge about what's going to happen to them and...