Naples man who killed teen intruder gets 4 years' probation

CCSO

• Name: Misener, Sterlin
• Charge: CAPIAS/POSS SHORT-BARRELED SHOTGUN
• Residence: Naples
• Age: 45
• Occupation: Owner
• Case #: 10CF000059A

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NAPLES — A Naples man who shot and killed a teenage intruder on his property was sentenced to four years’ probation after he pleaded to a weapons charge Thursday.

Sterlin F. Misener Jr. had faced a maximum 15 years in prison if convicted of the charge, possessing a sawed-off shotgun.

“Sir, you got a good agreement here,” Collier Circuit Judge Franklin Baker told Misener, 46, after scanning the facts of the case.

Misener killed 19-year-old Patrick Hutchinson on March 20, 2009, after catching the teenager on his Willoughby Drive property around 4:30 a.m., exiting the nearby family camper. Misener told law enforcement he confronted Hutchinson with a shotgun and pulled the trigger when the teen lunged at him.

The homeowner called 911, admitted to shooting Hutchinson and lead the responding officer to the gun, which he had placed on a kitchen counter.

Misener’s attorney, Jerry Berry, said his client’s actions were protected under Florida’s 2005 Stand Your Ground Law, which permits residents to use deadly force when in fear of death or great bodily harm.

Berry recalled an October 2008 armed robbery at Misener’s house, in which three Cape Coral teenagers burst into the home with guns, bound Misener and his wife and demanded drugs and money. No one was injured, and four teenagers were arrested for the crime after Misener’s son called 911.

Berry said Misener’s recollection of that break-in explained the March shooting of Hutchinson.

Misener’s home may have been targeted several times in 2008. In May of that year, deputies stopped a car with four teenagers who admitted burglarizing the home for marijuana. They called the home a “growhouse,” and one of the suspects claimed he’d once stolen 30 pounds of marijuana from a shed behind the house. He said the operation had since been cleaned out, leaving the teenagers with a small bag found in a trailer on the property.

In October 2008, three days prior to the violent break-in, Misener called deputies after a burglar alarm went off and he found evidence of someone trying to enter his shed.

Deputies searched Misener’s trailer and found no evidence of drugs, the Collier County Sheriff’s Office reported. Berry and Misener’s friends have dismissed the growhouse claim as rumor.

In January 2010 prosecutors charged Misener for the modified shotgun, a sawed-off 12-gauge.

Thursday, as his wife looked on, Misener pleaded no contest to the charge. Baker adjudicated him guilty, and he reminded him of two conditions of probation: that Misener cannot own any firearms and that if arrested while on probation, he could face the full 15 years.

“Yes, I won’t be back here, sir,” Misener said.

Outside the courtroom, Misener said he was relieved to have the charge behind him.

“Just glad to move on, and I hope everyone can move on from this tragedy,” he said.