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Stalker murder defendant claims self-defenseProsecution says victim was possibly shot several times after he had fallen woundedBY JIM SUHRAssociated PressST. LOUIS — A man charged with murder in the shooting death of a chronic stalker acted in self-defense, contrary to claims by investigators questioning the use of lethal force against the unarmed victim, the man’s attorney said Thursday.Richard “Rick” Pearia, 51, on Thursday was ordered to appear Nov. 13 for a preliminary hearing on charges of second-degree murder andarmed criminal action in the Oct. 7 death of Donald Brinkmeyer, who allegedly had been stalking Pearia’s wife, Kerstin.Kerstin Pearia, 45, has been charged with hindering prosecution.The shooting came eight days after Kerstin Pearia got a court-issued protection order against Brinkmeyer, whom she accused of pestering the family, stalking her husband’s cousin—Brinkmeyer’s ex-girlfriend— and claiming that Rick Pearia and that womanwere having an affair.Authorities sayBrinkmeyer was shot — possibly several times after he already had fallen wounded — after following Kerstin Pearia home in St. Charles County, about 40 miles west of St. I^ouis. At her husband’s behest, investigators suspect, Kerstin Pearia got an ice pick that was placed next to Brinkmeyer’s body.Authorities have argued that the couple, who already had summoned sheriff’sdeputies before the shooting,overstepped against a 6-foot, 180-pound man that investigators believe was perhaps a nuisance, not necessarily a legitimate threat.“The evidence is inconsistent with the theory of self-defense, St. Charles County prosecutor Jack Banas has said.Rick Pearia’s attorney said his client justly acted against Brinkmeyer, whom he said made “several threats, explicit and implicit” against the Pearias.“He followed Rick’s wife tothe home, and he had attempted to restrain and possibly harm Rick’s son,” Joel Schwartz told The Associated Press on behalf of his client, jailed since last week on $1 million bond. “Rick did everything he could under the law, including filing a restraining order, to keep Mr. Brinkmeyer away.”In declining to discuss the alleged ice pick, Schwartz said only that “suffice it to say that mistakes may have been made” after the shooting, but that doesn’t lessen the factthat they (the Pearias) acted in lawful self-defense.Notions that Rick Pearia was dating his cousin, who on Aug. 18 got a protection order against Brinkmeyer, were “absurd” inventions of Brinkmeyer’s “convoluted mind, Schwartz said.When killed, Brinkmeyer had not yet been handed a copy of the order barring his contact with the Pearias. Still. Schwartz questions whether it would have made much difference to Brinkmeyer, given his criminal past.
Newspaper Details
Sedalia Democrat
Sedalia, Missouri, US
Fri, Oct 17, 2003
Page 5
Full Page
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Alicia P.
AL, USA 18 Mar 2024
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