Minnesota — A 48-year-old Bloomington man pleaded guilty to murdering his wife and wounding two others and may well spend the rest of his life in prison, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday.
Jason Mesich pleaded guilty to second-degree murder of his wife, Angela, and attempted second-degree murder of a 12-year-old girl and second-degree assault of a woman, both of whom were his neighbors. Finally, he pleaded guilty to first-degree assault for shooting at a Bloomington police officer as they were trying to apprehend him.
Hennepin County District Court Judge Hilary Caligiuri told Mesich he had made a knowing guilty plea but she would not find him guilty until his sentencing on Mar. 15. The guilty pleas came about through negotiations between prosecutors and Mesich’s attorney. As a result, he is expected to receive 367 months for the murder, 180 months for the attempted murder and 36 months for the assault. The sentences will be served consecutively for a total of 583 months.
In addition, he will be sentenced to 134 months for the assault on the police officer, but that sentence will run concurrent with the others. Even serving 2/3 of the sentence in prison, which is standard, he will be more than 80 years old when he is released and on supervised release for the balance of his sentence.
Mesich, sporting a long gray and white beard, answered questions from his lawyer to admit the key facts of the case. He admitted that on Aug. 30 he shot Angela Mesich 12 times while they were in the garage of their Bloomington house. According to the criminal complaint, the shooting began about 11 p.m.
Senior Hennepin County Attorney Amy Blagoev asked several other questions. Mesich admitted he shot his wife twice in the head, twice in the neck, twice in the arm and six times in the upper chest. He used all of his bullets in the .40 caliber semi-automatic gun in killing his wife, Mesich admitted. Mesich eventually told investigators that he armed himself after he and his wife had an argument over a lack of sex.
As for the shooting of the 12-year-old, Mesich’s lawyer asked him if it was true that he then went outside and got into an argument with a neighbor. Mesich hesitated before finally responding.
“I don’t know if there was any exchange or it just happened,” he said.
He then admitted that he thought the girl and her sister may have heard him shoot his wife, so he fired the shots that injured the two as they were in the front yard of their home. He further stated that he hated all children.
Both of the victims are recovering from their injuries. The child is doing well and improving daily and her older sister is doing very well.
Finally, in a recently filed criminal complaint charging Mesich with first-degree assault of an officer, Mesich admitted that right around midnight, officers responded to his home because of a call about shots fired. Mesich was in his basement with a number of firearms. He heard the officers call through an open door to come out with his hands up. Instead, he reached around the staircase and fired at an officer. One bullet struck a car outside.
