Font ResizeA jury now holds the fate of two men accused of shooting at a group and killing one man after a tense July 4, 2006, party in Salt Lake City.
Attorneys made their final cases Friday evening in 3rd District Court on the heels of a five-day trial. The jury is expected to return Monday morning to deliberate.
Prosecutor Byron Burmester said Marco Mike "Kolo" Heimuli and Anthony David "Tony Montana" Milligan charged and fired more than a dozen rounds at Tevita Vaenuku and his two friends as the unarmed men fled near 1800 West and 400 North.
But defense attorney Robin Ljungberg said the house where Heimuli and Milligan were partying already was on "high alert" due to gang tensions, and several people had been called to give backup to people at the party in the midst of a brewing fight among some women.
It's unclear how those tensions began, but Vaenuku was among those coming to provide backup. His girlfriend had called him crying and pleading for his help.
Ljungberg argued self-defense, saying Vaenuku was shot in the chest and might have had a gun.
"This man was not shot in the back as he was running away," Ljungberg said, adding that even the location in the neighborhood where Vaenuku was shot remains uncertain after the weeklong trial. "The details were not brought out in this case."
Ljungberg also alluded to a letter Milligan sent to a friend in prison and old conversations between the two during which Milligan
But Burmester read a passage from Milligan's same letter that said: "I smoked that fool," and added that Milligan, Heimuli and others at the shooting were heard aiding and encouraging violence with words such as "get him cous" and "who's trippin'?"
"They intended to kill. They showed utter callousness for human life," Burmester said. "They fired off in excess of a dozen rounds. What other intent could they have had?"
Milligan is charged with first-degree felony murder and second-degree felony aggravated assault. Heimuli faces first-degree felony murder and first-degree felony attempted murder.
