Sera Alexander shot and killed her stepfather, Anthony Hartmann (pictured)
A young woman killed her ‘physically abusive’ stepfather after he dared her to shoot him in the basement of her home.
Sera Alexander shot and killed Anthony Hartmann after years of abuse, a court heard.
Montgomery Brown, defending, told the court ‘terrified’ Alexander had confronted her 49-year-old stepfather with a gun after she discovered him in the basement of her home in Des Moines, Iowa.
She told him she would shoot if he didn’t get out.
‘Fine, shoot me,’ he responded.
Alexander, 29, was charged with second-degree murder on May 8, 2017 and faces up to 50 years in prison, reports the Des Moine Register.
Her lawyers argue the shooting was justified by self defence.
Hartmann, a perpetrator of domestic abuse, had convictions from 2001 and 2016.
Just six days before the killing, a no-contact order prohibiting him from going near her home had been lifted. Alexander was unaware of this fact.
Twenty-nine-year-old Alexander (pictured) confronted her stepfather in the basement of her home
She faces up to 50 years in jail but argues her actions are justified by self defense
An autopsy revealed Hartmann had alcohol and methamphetamine in his system at the time of the shooting, Brown said.
She added Alexander and the rest of the family had been left terrified after Hartmann broke into the basement in a previous violation of a no-contact order.
He was arrested and the family had enjoyed ‘six months of peace’.
It was after this incident that Alexander told her mother she would kill Hartmann if he returned to the house. Defence said this had been meant as a joke.
Other witnesses described how Hartmann once struck his stepson on the head with a putty knife, leaving a scar.
On another occasion, he broke his wife’s hand with a screwdriver.
Alexander’s boyfriend Eric McDonald also testified, describing how he regularly saw Hartmann screaming, yelling and throwing things around the house.
Alexander’s brother, Addison Hartmann (pictured), testified before court, saying Anthony Hartmann often used household tools as weapons
In one incident Anthony Hartmann attacked the family with a chainsaw, the defendant’s brother told the court
Alexander’s brother, Addison Hartmann, told the court his father would often use household tools as weapons.
‘There wasn’t a specific category of tools that he would use,’ Addison Hartmann said.
‘It was more a matter of availability at the time. He has come after us with everything from a precision screwdriver to a chainsaw.’
His mother regularly slept at her office or in her car because she felt unsafe at home, he said.
Both McDonald and Addison Hartmann live at home with Alexander, her mother and a renter.
Addison Hartmann was upstairs at the time of the shooting.
His mother called to say his stepfather was coming over and that she would call him 20 minutes before he arrived.
Shannon Archer (pictured), prosecuting, argued that Alexander’s attack had been premeditated
She told him Anthony Hartmann should be allowed inside to retrieve his tools so he could fix her car.
He heard his sister confront Anthony Hartmann in the basement and promptly went downstairs.
He told the court his view of the shooting was obscured from where he was standing at the top of the stairs.
Assistant Polk County Attorney Shannon Archer, prosecuting, argued Alexander had already decided to shoot Hartmann before she found him at her house.
He described how she pulled the trigger ‘again and again until the gun jams and she can’t fire anymore.’
She added the defendant had a ‘lingering grudge’ and had been waiting for the right moment to kill him.
Alexander’s lawyers had previously argued she should be able to use Iowa’s stand your ground law, whereby a defendant can use force to stand their ground in the face of a violent attack
However, a judge ruled the law, which took effect July last year, should not apply retroactively.
Alexander opted for a bench trial, where a judge will decide her case, as opposed to a jury.
The trial continues.
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