An attorney for Daniel Lieske says the 60-year old Marshall man acted in self-defense in the fatal shooting of 21-year old Jesse Faber of Sun Prairie.
During opening statements during the first day of Lieske’s trial on a charge of first degree intentional homicide, attorney Dennis Burke said Faber attacked Lieske in a bathroom, after Lieske didn’t give Faber cocaine and had a gun on him.
Authorities say Lieske and his girlfriend had gone to his girlfriend’s son’s next door duplex near Marshall to break up a party that included Faber.
During his opening statement, Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said Lieske was armed when he broke up the party. Ozanne said after Lieske’s girlfriend, Meichelle Goss drove home several party-goers, she returned to find Lieske with his gun standing over Faber, who was lying down. Ozanne said Goss left the room and then heard gun shots.
Ozanne said all but two of seven gun shots to Faber entered him through his back.
Ozanne told jurors Lieske told authorities Faber stepped outside for a cigarette and never returned, sparking a massive search. Ozanne said after investigators learned Lieske confessed to Goss’ mother he had killed Faber, investigators found Faber’s body duct-taped in garbage bags in Lieske’s Rio storage unit.
Lieske and Goss have already been convicted of concealing Faber’s body.
Burke said it was a “monumental” error in judgment for the couple to panic and hide the body.
Burke said Lieske has chronic pain and used cocaine and drank beer in the hours before breaking up the party. Burke said Faber told Lieske he “robbed people,” and when Lieske refused Faber cocaine and did not disarm himself, Faber attacked him, and Lieske feared Faber was armed.
Party-goer and Faber friend Coti Igle testified Faber typically carried a knife in his pocket. Igle also testified Faber had a drinking problem, but was typically a “friendly drunk,” unless someone “got on his nerves.”
“He was a happy guy all the time,” Faber’s father, Daniel Faber testified about when his son was both sober and drinking. “Always had a smile on his face. If you were around him and you were down, he could pick you right up by…making you laugh.”
Party-goer Devin Bowers testified he slept on a couch in the duplex where the party took place, and awoke to see Faber had left his cell phone behind, which Ozanne said was “out of context” for Faber. Bowers also testified by the time the party broke up and Faber visited Lieske at Lieske’s nearby duplex, there were no cigarettes left among party-goers.
Burke said Lieske was responsible for the expansive property containing the two duplexes and other buildings, and was responsible for maintaining the former Marshall amusement venue Little Amerricka and armed himself for security reasons.
For more go to WKOW: https://wkow.com/news/top-stories/2019/01/08/attorney-says-lieske-acted-in-self-defense-in-sun-prairie-mans-killing/