New Brighton Feud Shooting Trial Enters 2nd Day
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Testimony continued Tuesday in the fatal feud between neighbors in New Brighton, Minn. over the feeding of deer.
Paula Zumberge is on trial for aiding and abetting the second-degree murder of Todd Stevens, and the injuring of Jennifer Cleven, his girlfriend.
Cleven told investigators that while Neal Zumberge fired the fatal shots, it was his wife Paula who was shouting at him to keep shooting.
On the second day of the trial, there is still no corroborating evidence that Paula Zumberge was shouting those words to her husband, as Cleven claimed in court on Monday.
That could be crucial if the state has any chance of proving Paula had provoked the killing.
Graphic autopsy photos of Todd Stevens' pellet-riddled body left little doubt of how he died. Twelve-gauge buckshot pierced his heart, lungs and brain.
But of all the shocked neighbors who testified, none heard Paula Zumberge shouting to husband Neal to keep shooting.
A BCA scientist testified there was no DNA of Paula Zumberge found on the four fired shot shells or the shotgun -- only the DNA of her husband.
Several responding officers told the judge that Cleven swore at police for doing nothing to prevent the bloodshed, a feud that had been ramping up over the preceding weeks.
On Wednesday, jurors will see the surveillance videos from cameras outside Stevens' home, which recorded the killing.
Then, defense plans to call both Paula and Neil Zumberge to the stand. It appears, so far, that Paula Zumberge is deflecting blame to her husband.
Jurors also learned Tuesday that Cleven called 911 from her hospital room the morning after the shooting, telling the operator that Paula Zumberge was screaming the words, "Shoot 'em, shoot 'em, shoot 'em."
