Three of the four people charged Wednesday in Nancy Everson's murder relented and admitted making up an alibi, but her son stuck to his denial and said he wasn't there when she was shot in the head by one of his friends, authorities said.

Murder charges filed against Grant Everson, 20, of Chaska say he stood next to his friend Joel M. Beckrich as Beckrich shot Everson's mother with a family shotgun in their home before dawn Sunday.

Carver County Attorney Mike Fahey said Everson contended he was at his friend's Burnsville townhouse when his mother was killed. He and his three friends are accused of plotting a murder-for-inheritance scheme that was foiled when his father escaped out a window.

Everson appeared almost lighthearted in a packed Chaska courtroom as Judge Philip Kanning asked whether he had read the charges.

"I read them once, but I'd like to read them over a few times," answered Everson, who had no attorney.

Fahey said the other defendants were "taking it hard."

Everson, Beckrich and Christopher D. Fuhrman, all 20 and 2003 Chaska High School graduates, face charges that include conspiring to commit and aiding premeditated murder and the attempted murder of Tom Everson. The charges allege Everson and Beckrich each said they couldn't pull the trigger before Beckrich shot Nancy Everson as she lunged at him in a hall.

Mike Gulden, 17, was charged with aiding offenders after a murder and helping them avoid arrest. Prosecutors sought to have him tried as an adult. Gulden and Fuhrman knew of the plot but didn't go to the Everson home, charges said.

Everson was held on $1 million bail and the others without bail until hearings in the next week.

More than one of the suspects told police the four smoked marijuana the night of the killing, but "they clearly knew what they were doing," Fahey said.

Tom Everson, speaking to reporters after the hearing, said, "The depth of the darkness of this tragedy is a tsunami-like wave of pain."

Choking back emotion, he added: "I want to thank Nancy for loving us."

Nicole Everson, 23, sitting by her father, added: "My mother's whole being and soul were about love and not hate. We need to carry that and look past the hate that could engulf us all and instead see the beauty of a magnificent woman and her life."

Fahey said Beckrich and Fuhrman told police they hoped to get $10,000 to $20,000 from life insurance once Grant's parents were dead and use that money to start a coffee shop in Amsterdam, where they could sell marijuana without legal consequence.

Grant Everson had "some pent-up hostilities because his life was not going anywhere" and his parents had talked to him about that, Fahey said.

Attorneys and family members defended the other three.

Joel Beckrich "is an innocent young man," a confirmed Catholic with good moral values and an honor-roll student, his father, Matt Beckrich, said after the hearing.

Jeff Fuhrman said his son Chris was dragged into the incident because he lived at the Burnsville townhouse where the others hung out.