Attorneys for Markus Kaarma claim fear and adrenaline predominated in the moments before he fatally shot a 17-year-old German in his garage in Montana

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Attorneys for a Montana man said in court on Thursday that his adrenaline was sky-high and he was defending his home when he fired a shotgun four times into his garage in April, killing a 17-year-old German exchange student.

In opening statements at Markus Kaarma’s murder trial, Montana prosecutors argued Kaarma was the aggressor and lured high-schooler Diren Dede into his garage by leaving the door partially open and a purse inside.

The trial has become another test of “stand your ground” laws in the US. The laws make it easier for people to avoid prosecution in shootings by saying they felt an imminent danger. Dede, an exchange student from the German city of Hamburg, was not carrying a weapon.

The German government is closely following the case and has condemned the killing as out of proportion to any risk Dede posed to Kaarma. Dede’s parents, Celal and Gulcin Dede, were dressed in black and sat solemnly in the front row during testimony in the packed courtroom. Kaarma sat stone-faced and silent.

Prosecutors said Kaarma didn’t give warning before firing four times, with a pause between the third and fourth shot, after an intruder tripped sensors he had installed.

“Neighbours heard the sequence of shots; they heard boom, boom, boom, pause, boom,” deputy county attorney Jennifer Clark said. She held the pump-action shotgun used in the slaying and simulated firing it.

She believes Dede had been crouching behind a car after the first shots were fired. “We’ll be back to ask you to hold this man responsible for deliberately taking the life of Diren Dede,” Clark said.

It’s not clear what Dede was doing in Kaarma’s garage, but defense attorneys claim that Dede was part of a band of teenagers burglarising homes in town.

Days before, Kaarma told a woman his house had been burglarised twice and that he had been waiting up to shoot an intruder, according to court records.

Paul Ryan, an attorney for Kaarma, said on Thursday there had been a number of break-ins in the neighbourhood and that Kaarma believed police weren’t doing anything about it. He noted that Kaarma didn’t know whether the person inside the garage was armed.

The defence attorney also said Kaarma did not like to be around people and felt threatened and increasingly anxious for the safety of his partner, Janelle Pflager, and their infant son after the first burglaries.

An 18-year-old next-door neighbour, Brandon Klise, testified that he thought it was odd to see the garage door at the Kaarma home open; homeowners were told to keep them closed after recent thefts. Klise also said he knew Kaarma felt he was being targeted.

Other witnesses included teens convicted of burglarising Kaarma’s home about a week before the shooting.

Tristan Staber, 18, said he was the lookout when his accomplice, Mykle Martin, took a wallet, iPhone, marijuana and alcohol from Kaarma’s garage. Staber said he heard Kaarma and his wife threaten them when the couple called the iPhone, but Martin said they didn’t specifically make threats.

Martin, 17, said he wasn’t a part of the burglary ring but feels his crime was somewhat responsible for Dede’s death.

“I was the previous break-in,” he said. “I’m the reason [Kaarma] was waiting for another person.”

Ryan argued that Montana law allows homeowners to protect their residences with deadly force when they believe they are going to be harmed. More than 30 states have laws expanding on the self-defense principle known as the “castle doctrine,” which echoes the old saying “my home is my castle”.

That principle came under scrutiny in the 2012 shooting of the unarmed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin by a neighbourhood-watch volunteer, George Zimmerman, who was following him . Zimmerman was acquitted after arguing he acted in self-defence.