Man not guilty of murder in killing of unarmed trespasser


              FILE - In this Wednesday, May 27, 2015 file photo, Wayne Burgarello listens as a witness takes the stand at the Washoe County District Court, in Reno, Nev. A Nevada prosecutor on Friday, May 29, urged jurors to convict Burgarello of first-degree murder, saying he was seeking out a deadly confrontation when he shot two unarmed trespassers in a vacant duplex he owns. Burgarello maintains he was acting in self-defense when he killed Cody Devine and seriously wounded Janai Wilson last year. A jury in Reno is expected to begin deliberations Friday afternoon. (Andy Barron/The Reno Gazette-Journal via AP, Pool,File)
FILE - In this Wednesday, May 27, 2015 file photo, Wayne Burgarello listens as a witness takes the stand at the Washoe County District Court, in Reno, Nev. A Nevada prosecutor on Friday, May 29, urged jurors to convict Burgarello of first-degree murder, saying he was seeking out a deadly confrontation when he shot two unarmed trespassers in a vacant duplex he owns. Burgarello maintains he was acting in self-defense when he killed Cody Devine and seriously wounded Janai Wilson last year. A jury in Reno is expected to begin deliberations Friday afternoon. (Andy Barron/The Reno Gazette-Journal via AP, Pool,File)

RENO, Nev. (AP) - A Nevada man who confronted two unarmed trespassers with a deadly barrage of gunfire at a vacant duplex he owns was found not guilty Friday of murder in the latest case to test the boundaries of stand-your-ground self-defense laws.

A jury in Reno found retired Sparks school teacher Wayne Burgarello, 74, not guilty of all charges, including first-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter and attempted murder.

Burgarello told police he was acting in self-defense in February 2014 when he shot and killed Cody Devine and seriously wounded Janai Wilson.

Jurors deliberated for about six hours before returning the verdicts Friday night in Washoe District Court. He was charged with open murder, so they could have considered charges ranging from first-degree murder to involuntary manslaughter.

He faced up to life in prison without parole on the charge of first-degree murder.

Assistant District Attorney Bruce Hahn said first-degree murder was warranted because Burgarello acted with premeditation in the February 2014 shooting. He said Burgarello wanted to exact revenge for repeated burglaries and vandalism at the rental unit he largely abandoned nine years ago in a working-class neighborhood just east of Reno.

"There was going to be a deadly confrontation," Hahn said during Friday's closing arguments. "He was mad. Somebody was going to pay."

Wilson testified during the two-week trial that she stayed at the duplex off and on for three years. She said Burgarello opened fire without provocation while she and Devine were sleeping in a makeshift bed on the floor.

Neither trespasser had a firearm, but Burgarello told police Devine's arm "came up like a gun." His lawyer, Theresa Ristenpart, said Burgarello might have mistaken a black flashlight found at the scene for a gun and had only a split second to respond.

Burgarello did not take the stand, but jurors saw a video of his interrogation by detectives.

"I was trying to protect my own life," he said. "Since they were there in a threatening manner, I reacted."

Ristenpart said it was Devine and Wilson, not Burgarello, who "created the dangerous, threatening situation, trespassing, getting high on meth and being where they shouldn't be, where they had no right to be."

"The state wants you to find Wayne was the aggressor for going into his own home. That's not being aggressive. That's your right," she said.

Hahn said the trespassers had no business being there, but they did nothing to threaten Burgarello and didn't deserve to be "shot like fish in a barrel on the floor."

Devine was shot five times, including once in the head. Wilson was shot in her leg, arm and stomach.

"It wasn't one or two (shots), then we'll talk. It was eight rounds," Hahn said. "It was open season."

Two neighbors testified Burgarello told them years ago he might arm himself and wait for people responsible for repeated break-ins.

"This had been rolling around in this man's mind for several years," Hahn said.

The defense noted another neighbor who notified Burgarello of trouble at the duplex, and was standing just outside when the shooting occurred, said Burgarello shouted three different times that he was the homeowner and if anyone was inside, they should come out.

"A man with a murderous intent is not going to announce himself," Ristenpart said.

Nevada's stand-your-ground law allows property owners to use deadly force against attackers who pose an imminent threat, regardless of whether they are armed. But it specifies the shooter cannot be the initial aggressor.

More than 30 states have adopted or strengthened stand-your-ground laws since Florida expanded its law in 2005 to allow deadly force outside the home. Interpretation of those laws has been controversial since a Florida jury acquitted George Zimmerman in Trayvon Martin's 2012 shooting death.

Earlier this year, a judge made it clear Montana's stand-your-ground law has limits when he sentenced Markus Kaarma to 70 years in the 2014 killing of a teenager. Prosecutors argued Kaarma couldn't claim self-defense because he was intent on setting a trap for a burglar in his garage.

In a similar Minnesota case, Byron Smith was convicted of premeditated murder last year for lying in wait in his basement and killing two teens who broke in.

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