Attorney: Shooter Was Defending His Home
VALPARAISO, Ind. (STMW) -- Andrew Miliam testified Tuesday that he spent five months in recovery and had three surgeries after being shot above the ankle while walking in some woods along U.S. 30.
The trial for the man who shot at Miliam and three friends -- Donald Gregory Huls, 48, of the Shorewood Forest, Ind., subdivision -- began Tuesday.
Attorneys for Huls say he was defending his home and family from a crunching sound that kept getting closer in the dark.
Porter County (Ind.) Prosecutor Brian Gensel, who's prosecuting the case, said Huls's conduct was unwarranted.
"That's what this case is about -- reasonable behavior and whether he was in any danger," Gensel said.
The shooting happened in June 2009, when Miliam and friends attended a graduation party in the Edgewood subdivision for a friend who once lived in Hammond, Ind., with them.
Miliam, who then was 18, and friend Cody Merrick, now 20, said food had run low, and they decided to walk to a nearby gas station for snacks.
However, they went east instead of west, and after getting to Shorewood Drive, turned around.
Both sides agree on that part of the events and that Huls was unpacking his family's recreational vehicle just after midnight on Monday, when the young men were in the area.
Defense attorney Scott King said that Huls was taking his 9 mm Beretta inside so that his 6-year-old twins wouldn't find it later when his wife finished unpacking.
"Mr. Huls did what he was legally entitled to do," King said.
Gensel said the boys were traveling along U.S. Route 30 when they heard a "hey" and a shot, then ran into the woods for protection, not realizing they were trespassing and getting closer to the shooter.
King said Huls thought he heard a deer and shouted to scare it off, but heard noises getting closer.
Gensel said when Huls called 911, he said, "I just had intruders trying to break in, and I fired off about 20 shots. I think I killed somebody."
However, evidence will show they were about 210 feet from Huls when he shot Miliam, Gensel said.
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