The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Local News

August 25, 2008

Father sentenced for shooting son

Sentence is 30 days in jail and probation

By Brian Ojanpa

GAYLORD — A Belle Plaine man who killed his son in a turkey-hunting accident last spring has received a 30-day jail sentence and 10 years probation.

Anthony Klaseus was sentenced Monday in Sibley County District Court after earlier pleading guilty to second-degree manslaughter in the death of 8-year-old Hunter Klaseus.

Prosecutors had sought a 90-day jail sentence and probation conditions.

Klaseus’ sentence also calls for 400 hours of community service over the next five years, including involvement in teaching hunting safety, and completion of a chemical dependency treatment program,

He also is prohibited from owning, using or possessing a firearm.

In his consideration of a sentence, Judge Richard Perkins said he took into account how the crime affects the community at large, and the conversations he had — both sought and unsolicited — with community members who know the Klaseus family.

“This incident is more tragic than the headlines and the newscasts have portrayed,” Perkins said in addressing the court.

Then to Klaseus: “But you had a duty to (hunt safely), and you breached that duty.”

After the sentence was imposed, Klaseus’ remarks to the judge were brief, saying only that he would do anything to take back that fateful day.

Klaseus and family members declined to comment afterward.

Klaseus and his son, who was dressed in camouflage, were hunting on the edge of a field in Sibley County on April 19.

According to court records, they spotted some turkeys and Klaseus told his son to stay put as he circled the field in pursuit of the birds.

Klaseus told investigators he heard something snap or break near him. He said he saw a figure rise up and he shot, thinking it was a turkey.

The shotgun pellets struck the boy in the neck and torso and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Klaseus initially had also been charged with trespassing and hunting turkeys without a license.

A breath test administered at the scene showed Klaseus had a blood-alcohol concentration of .06 percent. A urine test administered later showed presence of marijuana in his system, though the concentration was negligible.

“This was an egregious act of irresponsibility. This simply should not happen,” Sibley County Assistant Attorney Don Lannoye said in his courtroom remarks to the judge.

But he acknowledged that no court punishment is worse than waking up each day and realizing that one’s actions were responsible for the death of one’s child.

“Honestly, there’s nothing the legal system can do that he’s not doing to himself,” Lannoye said after the hearing.

Lannoye and Klaseus’ attorney, Patrick Flanagan, said they thought Perkins’ sentence was fair.

Said Perkins in his sentencing remarks to Klaseus, “Forgive yourself. You have to forgive yourself in order for you to best move on from this point.”

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