Jury’s verdict: Carpenter guilty in murder case

UPDATE — 5:10 p.m.

Jack Carpenter’s jury found him guilty Wednesday afternoon of voluntary manslaughter and firearm possession in the commission of a felony.

He’d been charged with open murder in the June 2012 shooting death of David Meyer, Jr. in the Ishpeming house that they shared.

Carpenter could have been convicted of first-degree murder, second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter.

Meyer’s mother says she’s pleased and relieved. “I’m happy, whatever it is,” Trudy Gustafson said. “The jury did good. I’m glad, and I’ve got closure now and justice for my kid.”

The jury needed just shy of nine hours of deliberation to reach its verdict.

Defense attorney Karl Numinen reminded the jurors during closing arguments that Carpenter’s actions needed to be judged based on how the circumstances appeared to him at the time of the shooting. “You’ve got a guy hopped up on all kinds of drugs putting a knife in his face and trying stabbing him. That’s how the circumstances appeared to him,” Numinen said.

Marquette County Prosecutor Matt Wiese said there was no evidence to support Numinen’s theory of what happened, and he said he believed that the evidence supported a first-degree murder conviction. “But I believe a more reasonable looking at the whole circumstance is that this was an intentional killing, by his (Carpenter’s) actions, by what went down, by how the physical evidence fits with what (witness) Justin Saari had to say,” Wiese said.

That was ultimately how the jury saw the case as well. A voluntary manslaughter conviction means that the jurors believed Carpenter killed Meyer intentionally in an emotional moment brought on by provocation.

Carpenter will be sentenced in Marquette County Circuit Court on November 1st, and Gustafson says she’s ready to tell the court how much prison time he should receive. “Yes, I will be speaking there,” she said. “I already got it written down, and I’m saying it November 1st.”

Carpenter could be sentenced to anywhere from five to 15 years for voluntary manslaughter. After completing that sentence, he’ll then have to spend two more years in prison on the firearm possession charge.

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After a full day of deliberation, the jury came to a verdict just after 1 p.m. in the trial of Jack Carpenter.

Jack Carpenter has been found guilty on two counts in the fatal shooting of David Meyer, Junior during the summer of 2012.

Carpenter was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter and firearm possession during a commission of a felony.

He will be sentenced November 1 in Marquette County Circuit Court.

ABC 10’s Senior Reporter Mike Hoey was in court and will have more on the jury’s verdict coming up at 5:30.