CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) - A St. Louis County trial is underway for a man accused of fatally beating a gunman at a tavern in what the defense argues could have been a case of self-defense.
Forty-year-old Douglas Layman of Maryland Heights is charged with voluntary manslaughter in the October 2013 death of 63-year-old Edward Mueller. Prosecutors initially charged Layman with murder.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (https://bit.ly/2kgYoBU ) reports a prosecutor told jurors Tuesday that Layman killed Mueller in retaliation for wounding Layman’s brother and another man during a shooting in a now-closed tavern.
Layman’s attorney told jurors his client never came close enough to Mueller to hurt him, and that even if Layman attacked Mueller he was lawfully defending himself. Scott Rosenblum called Mueller “a wild man” who “was absolutely out of his mind.”
___
Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, https://www.stltoday.com
Please read our comment policy before commenting.