Jurors deliberating fate of man charged with pushing victim into traffic, killing him

Michael J. Merten III pushed Robert Hilgren into the path of an oncoming car Aug. 20 after the two men quarreled — that much is certain.

But what a Ramsey County jury must decide is whether Merten did so with the intent to kill Hilgren, whether he unintentionally killed Hilgren while assaulting him or whether he was acting in self-defense.

In closing arguments Monday, Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Rachel Kraker told jurors that Merten acted with intent, and at the very least, was committing felony assault when the two men fought in the 2400 block of Rice Street in Little Canada. The former account meets elements of the first count filed against Merten — second-degree murder with intent — and the latter meets elements of the second count, second-degree murder without intent while committing a felony.

"[Merten] took the chance to finish the fight that he had started," Kraker told jurors, who began deliberations about 1 p.m. and will resume Wednesday morning. The courthouse is closed Tuesday for Veterans Day.

Merten's attorney, Bruce Rivers, said in his closing arguments that his client acted in self-defense and should be acquitted.

"My client was trying to get away," Rivers said.

Evidence at trial shows that Hilgren's son, Preston Hilgren, and Merten were engaged in a conflict at a trailer park nearby when the younger Hilgren, 23, called his father, 47, for help.

Kraker told jurors Monday that Merten had started the fight with Preston Hilgren, walked into the street voluntarily and called out to Robert Hilgren so he could "regain control" of the fight.

Witnesses testified that the men bumped chests, and that Merten pushed Hilgren into the path of an SUV about 9:10 p.m.

Testimony about the moments before the push differed. One witness said it appeared as if Hilgren was about to punch Merten. Kraker told jurors that no one else corroborated that detail.

One witness, Raphael Nivens, testified that the push appeared timed. Nivens was driving behind the SUV that struck Hilgren.

Some of Loralei Hilgren's court testimony differed from her statements to police the night of her husband's death. She testified that Merten pushed her husband with both hands in the back as her husband turned away from the confrontation. In August, she told police Merten pushed her husband on the chest, an account corroborated by Nivens.

Kraker cited that nonchalance as further evidence of Merten's guilt.

"He didn't have a care in the world about Robert Hilgren," Kraker said of Merten's demeanor that night.

Witness Kiarra Whitlow-Nivens' testimony corroborated Loralei Hilgren's story.

"He was just casual," Whitlow-Nivens testified last week.

At the request of defense attorneys, jurors were also allowed to consider a lesser charge of first-degree manslaughter, a heat-of-passion crime or a death caused in the act of committing or attempting to commit a misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor.

"You don't get to push somebody in front of a car and say, 'It's just a push,' " she said.

Rivers told jurors that Preston Hilgren, who had been drinking that day and had used meth, picked a fight with Merten, and that the elder Hilgren "closed the gap" by following Merten into the street.

Merten lived in the trailer park, and Hilgren stood in the way of Merten's ability to get home, Rivers said.

One 911 caller had told dispatch that it appeared as if Merten was trying to get away, and that he was asking for help from passing cars.

"If you're asking for help, are you really intending to kill somebody?" Rivers asked the jurors. "[Hilgren] came to my client."

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