Homicide suspect pleads not guilty

The man arrested in the shooting death of an Ettrick resident pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, including homicide, while his attorney argued the shooting “screamed accidental.”

Todd Eric Gieck, 61, of Melrose, was held for trial Monday after Pepin County Judge Thomas Clark found it likely that a homicide had been committed and that Gieck committed it in a preliminary hearing. 

The hearing was followed by his arraignment during which Gieck pleaded not guilty to first-degree reckless homicide, use of a dangerous weapon, discharge of a firearm toward a vehicle and being a convicted out-of-state-felon with a firearm. If convicted on all the charges and given the maximum penalty, Gieck would face over 100 years in prison. A status conference on the case was scheduled for Oct. 16 at 8:30 a.m.

Gieck is charged in the May 15 shooting death of Kyle Dahl, 37. Gieck remains in Trempealeau County jail in lieu of $1.5 million bail.

In his argument that the shooting was accidental, Gieck’s attorney, Richard Jones Sr. of Madison, cited a conversation Gieck had with his sister after he was arrested for the Dahl death. In that conversation monitored by sheriff’s deputies, Gieck allegedly told his sister that he held the gun to his chest where he racked it and then thought he had shot himself. 

Under questioning by special prosecutor, La Crosse County assistant district attorney Edward Minser, Trempealeau County Detective Michael Anderson testified that investigators were told by a person in the car at the time of the incident that an “agitated” Gieck said “watch this” as he allegedly shot out the rear passenger window of the Dahl car.

According to court records, Gieck also told his sister in conversations that: “You can tell (the companion) it’s all on me, man. This isn’t going any further than it has to. Tell (the companion), you know, it’s all gonna come out in the wash later on. He doesn’t have to trip about nothing, ‘cause this ain’t going to a trial. It’s like this, ‘cause it ain’t gonna go that far. I mean, I’m gonna do at least 15-20 years.”

Investigators suspect the bullet may have hit the frame of the window and ricocheted before striking Dahl below the right eye.

Anderson recounted how investigators pieced together videos showing the course of the Gieck vehicle, including videos showing it at the end of a private driveway along northbound Highway 53 just as the Dahl vehicle went past. After the shooting, the Gieck vehicle skidded as it took off southbound, Anderson said. 

In the days after the shooting, investigators found skid marks where the Gieck vehicle was thought to have driven off and Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents found a 40-caliber shell in the same spot. Anderson said he and other investigators had interviewed a friend of Gieck who said the Melrose man had dropped off guns at the friend’s house May 18, one of which was a 40-caliber handgun.

Anderson said the results of tests on whether the found gun and shell matched are incomplete.