A southern Minnesota man was sentenced to more than 25 years for fatally shooting another man sitting in a car in a state park last summer.
David M. Easter, 27, of Brownsdale, was sentenced Friday in Freeborn County District Court for killing Spencer D. Brown, 23, on Aug. 23, 2016, at Myre-Big Island State Park near Albert Lea.
With credit for time in jail since his arrest, Easter will serve the first 16¾ years in prison and the balance on supervised release.
Jurors convicted Easter in April on charges of second-degree murder and carrying a firearm in public without a permit.
Easter's wife and the couple's infant daughter were nearby at the time of the shooting. Easter is a former Minnesota National Guard private and his wife, Karla, was in the Guard and based in Faribault.
Karla Easter told a deputy at the scene that her husband confronted Brown, who lived in a rural part of the county and frequently visited the park, and the two men exchanged words before the gunfire.
She said she heard Brown tell her husband to quit shining a light on him. David Easter told authorities the victim had come at him with a baseball bat.
The complaint noted that David Easter has a valid gun permit from Nebraska. However, Minnesota does not have a permit-to-carry reciprocity agreement with that state.
