EXCUSE ME???

 It happened in 2002 ... nearly 22 years ago .... on the Apple River in Wisconsin ...

The accused is/was from Prior Lake, which is in Minnesota

The crime?

Stabbing 5 people going down the river on innertubes ...

I could have sworn this trail had already taken place ... but they just announced JURY SELECTION for his trial ...

22 years is an awfully long time ...

I've heard the wheels of justice grind slowly but this is ridiculous.

The man on trial says he was acting in self-defense because the young adults (I don't think one of them was over 20 yrs old) threatened him ...

But he had time to go to his vehicle .... parked in a PARKING AREA ....and retrieve a KNIFE ...
HUNT down the river looking for this group ...
and then ATTACK them ...

I'm sorry, I guess this a jury I won't be on ...

the moment he left the river and went to his vehicle ... the threat ENDED ...

According to the story at the time ... the jest of it was, the group of "kids" were going down the river as a group (there may or may not have been beer involved .... I'm guessing there WAS beer)

Supposably, the accused tried to hit-on/made a pass at one of the young ladies ...
She called him a PERV and HE SAYS the guys proceeded to attack him ...
So he went and got a knife ...
the surviving "kids" said they did NOT attack him until he laid hands on them first ... so THEY were fighting in self-defense, but that this didn't occur until after he left and got the knife.

Okay -- so basically its a "he said, THEY said" situation ...

BUT - there COULD BE video involved as well ...

There have been rumors going around that the company which runs the tubing business on the Apple River had set up cameras along the river to keep an eye on behavior ...
Tubers have been known to get out an potty along the shoreline, throw beer cans and trash along the shoreline, and just be a general nuisence ...
So to make peace wih both the state and residents along the river, they set up the cameras so they could fine &/or ban those who did these things.

It could also be that property owners along the river may have had cameras pointed towards the area to record the misdeeds going on as well.

Although, this was back in 2002 before HQ images were available to the masses ... and not too many people have cameras on their property ...
it just might be that there COULD BE some footage, somewhere.

I just can't get over that its been almost 22 YEARS since this took place and they are just NOW sitting a JURY ....

I wonder what happened?
Maybe the newscaster got the date wrong ... if so ... I will have a fallow up post.