Man gets 15 years for totem pole death

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INTERNATIONAL FALLS, Minn. — The man who pleaded guilty to unintentional second-degree murder for killing his wife with a 17-foot-long, 700-pound totem pole was sentenced Monday to 15 years —the maximum allowed under court guidelines.

Carl Muggli, 51, of Ray, admitted in a plea hearing in State District Court last month that he raised a 5-foot wooden-handled cant hook — used for lifting, turning and prying logs — two-handed over his head in a threatening motion while his wife recoiled in fear, fell backward and knocked a 17-foot-long, 700-plus-pound totem pole out of its cradle system onto her head and chest, leading to the injuries that caused Linda Muggli’s death.

Muggli said that he and his wife were in a heated argument about his Internet romance with an Alabama woman at the time of the incident.

Koochiching County Sheriff Brian Jespersen was the lead investigator in the case when he was his office’s chief deputy. Jespersen said in an interview that the defendant’s version of events didn’t square with the results of an investigation done by his office and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. He said the manner of Linda Muggli’s death isn’t exactly known, but he doesn’t believe that it was an accident that the log landed on her.

Courtesy of The Duluth News-Tribune

Tags: news, crime, courts, minnesota