BALSAM LAKE (AP) – A judge in western Wisconsin has ordered a Minnesota teen to stand trial on charges of fatally stabbing a fisherman during a confrontation along the St. Croix River.
Nineteen-year-old Levi Acre-Kendall is charged with first-degree reckless homicide in the April 14th death of 34-year-old Peter Kelly at Interstate State Park in St. Croix Falls on the border of Minnesota.
KMSP-TV reports Acre-Kendall’s attorney argued in Polk County Circuit Court Wednesday that the defendant was acting in self-defense. Acre-Kendall fled after the deadly riverfront confrontation, but surrendered to authorities two days later. Officials say two friends with Acre-Kendall at the time are witnesses, but not suspects.
A criminal complaint says authorities have recovered a knife investigators say was used in the homicide from the defendant’s home in Cambridge.