BOULDER, Colo. — A man accused of fatally stabbing a Greenfield native in a drunken brawl on a Colorado street is standing trial this week on the murder charge he faces.
Ian Scheuermann, 22, is accused of killing former Greenfield resident Sean Hudson during an altercation late last year near the University of Colorado campus in Boulder, where both men were attending school.
Boulder County prosecutors and Scheuermann’s attorney spent Monday selecting 12 jurors to hear the proceedings, said Catherine Olguin, a spokeswoman for the Boulder County district attorney.
The trial is expected to last no longer than a week, with the jury beginning deliberations Friday afternoon after closing arguments, Olguin said.
Investigators say Scheuermann stabbed Hudson, 26, at least six times early Dec. 12 outside of a bar in Boulder. The two men were reportedly arguing about a girl when a fight broke out, and Scheuermann pulled a knife, officials said.
Scheuermann faces a charge of second-degree murder, which indicated a crime of passion rather than a planned killing, officials said. He’s maintained throughout the investigation that he acted in self-defense after Hudson initiated the fight, according to court documents.
Hudson, who graduated from Greenfield-Central High School in 2008, was attending the University of Colorado in Boulder and working toward a doctoral degree in psychology — which he received from the university posthumously earlier this year.
Hudson received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Butler University in 2012. He was working as a teaching assistant in the university’s department of psychology and neuroscience when he died, according to University of Colorado Boulder’s website.
Scheuermann and a friend of Hudson’s were dating the same girl, and the pair got into an argument about the woman the night Hudson died, according a Boulder Police Department report.
Scheuermann told police someone pushed him to the ground, and he pulled a knife to defend himself. He was found near Hudson’s body, covered in blood with a knife clipped to his pants, minutes after police arrived; he was immediately arrested, investigators said.
Investigators believe Scheuermann threatened Hudson and his friends earlier that night, according to police reports.
Hudson was stabbed six times, including once in the neck and once in the heart, according to The Associated Press. He was pronounced dead as he was being transported to the hospital.
Scheuermann faces two felonies in the case: one count of second-degree murder and one count of menacing. His attorney attempted to lessen the murder charge to manslaughter earlier this year, but a judge denied the request, saying Colorado district attorneys had enough evidence to uphold the original charge, according to The Associated Press.
In Colorado, second-degree murder is a Class 2 felony carrying a penalty of eight to 24 years. The menacing charge Scheuermann faces is a Class 5 felony carrying a penalty of one to three years.