Jury clears teenager of murder charge.

Byline: Bill Bishop The Register-Guard

A jury on Thursday acquitted a Dexter teenager on a murder charge, accepting his claim of self-defense in an April shooting that left another man dead during a late-night dispute between the shooter and a group of his former friends.

The jury deliberated almost seven hours before finding Kevin Ray Krauser, 19, not guilty in the death of 48-year-old Jerry Burnett, a man Krauser did not know.

However, the jury convicted Krauser of second-degree assault for wounding his girlfriend in a barrage of bullets that Krauser sprayed at the group after shooting Burnett, of Dexter. The charge carries a mandatory five-year, 10-month prison term under Measure 11.

Krauser also was convicted on six counts of unlawful use of a weapon. He previously pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and possessing a stolen firearm. Sentencing is scheduled for Thursday in the courtroom of Lane County Circuit Judge Lauren Holland.

Witnesses in the trial testified that Krauser gunned down Burnett soon after seven people arrived in two cars at the residence where Krauser stayed with his mother in the Lakeside Mobile Home Park at 39098 Dexter Road early on April 29.

Burnett was the first to confront Krauser, who had been in a fight with one of the men in the group the previous week and had challenged that man earlier on the evening of the shooting to settle the score.

Testimony indicated that Krauser shot Burnett twice with a .40-caliber handgun and again after he was on the ground. Krauser turned the weapon on the group, firing up to 10 shots - one of which struck 20-year-old Corena Slaughter, Krauser's girlfriend, causing serious injury.

The case turned on whether Krauser acted reasonably in using deadly force in the situation.

Oregon law allows use of deadly force if a person reasonably believes that another person is committing a felony involving the use or imminent use of physical force or that another person is unlawfully using deadly physical force against a third person.

A 16-year-old Pleasant Hill resident, Drew Rogers, testified that he was with Krauser when the group arrived just after midnight. Rogers testified that he was struck twice from behind with a baseball bat by one man, and that two others were trying to get him just before Krauser opened fire.

Krauser's defense lawyer, John Kolego of Eugene, said Krauser was justified in protecting his friend and himself from illegal and potentially deadly attack.

In closing arguments to the jury, Kolego suggested that the group recruited Burnett to come with them because they knew he had guns. While no second weapon was found at the scene, Kolego noted that Slaughter testified it appeared to her that Burnett was reaching into his waistband when Krauser shot him.

Kolego suggested one of the men in the group may have picked up Burnett's gun in the confusion after the incident.

A close friend of Burnett's proved to be a key witness on the final day of trial when he testified that Burnett always kept a 9mm pistol in plain sight in his residence and owned several other firearms, including an assault rifle, a shotgun and an Uzi pistol.

Kolego noted that members of the group, including a close relative of Burnett's, had testified that they never saw Burnett with a firearm and he didn't own any. Kolego told jurors that the lies of the group show they could not be trusted in their testimony about other key parts of the case.

If Krauser had been convicted of murder, he would have faced at least 25 years in prison under Measure 11.