Montana homeowner faces felony homicide charge after fatally shooting teen intruder

A Montana homeowner is behind bars and facing a felony charge of deliberate homicide after he fatally shot a teen who he found in his garage early Sunday morning.

Twenty-nine-year old Markus Hendrik Kaarma appeared in a Missoula County Justice Court Monday afternoon, a local NBC affiliate reports.

Police were called to Kaarma’s house at about 12:30 a.m. Sunday. Apparently the homeowner found Diren Dede, 17, and another male inside his garage after he was alerted by an alarm.

Kaarma fired four shots from a shotgun, two of which struck Dede. The second intruder, who was later interviewed by the police, immediately fled the scene – unharmed – as soon as shots rang out.

When authorities arrived, they found Kaarma in front of the house with a woman, and Dede inside the garage. The teen later died from his injuries.

Police arrested Kaarma, but according to Missoula Police Sgt. Travis Welsh, “We wouldn’t arrest someone without probable cause that a crime had been committed.”

The incident puts into question the state’s self-defense laws, which were amended in 2009 with House Bill 228. Lawmakers changed the laws following an incident where a woman was sentenced to prison for killing her abusive partner with a kitchen knife, an act she claimed was self-defense.

“Before House Bill 228, the burden of proof assumed that a person was not justified in using force to defend themselves,” explained Gary Marbut, who authored the changes and is the Montana Shooting Sports Association president. “We decided it was time to get that issue into statue. The underlying common law and statutory law says if a person is in genuine fear for loss of life or serious bodily injury, they may use lethal force anyplace. That’s spoken of nationally as ‘stand your ground.’ Any place you lawfully are, a right of self-defense exists.”

In addition to the standard self-defense laws, Marbut explained that Montana, like most states, also has its own Castle Doctrine.

“The castle doctrine is a generic term, that your home is your castle and you can defend it. You could defend your home from somebody there illegally, and defend people from someone who had entered unlawfully,” Marbut said. “In House Bill 228, we also said you have no duty to retreat or flee under those circumstances. Some states have a requirement if any you can escape, and you haven’t tried before using lethal force, you can be charged with a crime. We thought that was not appropriate to Montana culture. So we clarified you don’t have to dial 9-1-1 and wait 15 minutes for the police to arrive before you can use force to defend yourself.”

Although authorities have yet to release details surrounding the charges, Welsh said that there was no indication Dede was armed – a fact that could very well decide Kaarma’s fate, regardless of what defense is invoked.

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