Hainstock's lead attorney, Rhoda Ricciardi, told jurors in opening statements there's no dispute Hainstock killed Klang. But he didn't mean to, she said.
Witnesses: Teen said principal would die
BARABOO, Wis. (AP) — A 16-year-old charged with shooting his high school principal to death didn't mean to kill him, and had brought two guns to school only to scare people, his attorney said Friday at his murder trial.
The prosecution, however, said during opening statements that Eric Hainstock's anger at Weston Schools Principal John Klang had been building. Two teenagers testified that Hainstock told them that Klang wouldn't survive homecoming.
Hainstock is charged with killing Klang on Sept. 29, the morning homecoming festivities were set to begin. Investigators say Hainstock took his father's shotgun and a revolver to school because he was upset Klang and teachers hadn't stopped other kids from teasing him.
According to a criminal complaint, after a custodian took the shotgun from Hainstock, the student took out the revolver and Klang, 49, rushed him. Hainstock shot Klang three times before the dying principal wrestled him to the ground and pushed the gun away, the complaint said.
Hainstock's lead attorney, Rhoda Ricciardi, told jurors in opening statements there's no dispute Hainstock killed Klang. But he didn't mean to, she said.
She portrayed Hainstock as a lonely country boy who was teased relentlessly, labeled a "fag" by his fellow students and beaten and abused at home.
"This case is about a troubled boy from a troubled home who found nothing but trouble at school," Ricciardi said.
District Attorney Pat Barrett maintained that Hainstock's anger toward Klang had been building for two weeks before homecoming.
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