Dan Gukeisen Trial Ends with a Conviction
Phoenix bankruptcy attorney, Daniel Ray Gukeisen, was convicted yesterday (4/6) in Maricopa County Superior Court, cause no. CR2009-005838, of manslaughter in the stabbing death of a 22 year-old ASU student in September 2008. Dan was not present for the reading of the verdict and there is now a warrant out for his arrest.
Dan has been a client of mine for close to 5 years. Before this incident I knew Dan as an even tempered and calm individual. I could never imagine that he would be capable of what he was accused of doing. That said, after an exhaustive 3 year investigation and week long trial, he was found guilty of Manslaughter – Non Dangerous. This despite a rigorous criminal defense put up by renowned attorney Larry Debus.
****Update- Dan Gukeisen turned himself in last night 4/8/2011 and is now in police custody
My friend’s son was with Garrett the night he was stabbed by this man….he was not calm … he was safe in his second story condo and willingly went down the stairs with a knife in hand. These were stupid college kids. The antics he went through that night and what he has done since the murder really show what kind of character this man has. And he didn’t even show his face in the court room when the verdict was read. Shameful.
If someone bashes a skull in with a rock it is self-defense and okay to use a gun, knife, or baseball bat to defend themselves. The guy that attacked with a rock has destroyed Dan’s wonderful family along with costing him his own life. His family will have to live with that long after Dan is out of jail.
There was no rock, nor bashinging to Dan’s body. He should have thought about the consequences and his family before committing murder and causing a lifetime of grief for Garret’s family. Fighting and murder are not the same.
To April 8 Anonymous – “Bashes a skull in with a rock”???? I challenge anyone to back up that assertion with facts.
I am sure you would not have been making such an assertion if you had 1) read any of the extensive police reports in the incident, 2) viewed the videotaped interview of Dan Gukeisen by the Tempe PD, 3) listened to the audiotaped interview of Michael Gukeisen by the Tempe PD, 4) reviewed any of the photos of Michael’s supposed “rock” injury, 5) listened to Michael Gukeisen’s testimony at the trial, 6) listened to the trial testimony of Dan Gukeisen or his wife (oh yeah, they DIDN’T even take the stand to testify – imagine that), 7) learned that Gukeisen and his wife refused to leave his condo for over an hour and one-half after the stabbing even though the area was crawling with law enforcement who were telephoning and knocking on the door – part of the time being spent on the phone to 2 law offices even though he subsequently claimed in his interview that he didn’t know anything serious had happened, or 8)
listened to Gukeisen’s lawyer repeatedly represent to the judge, in Gukeisen’s presence, that this was a case of self-defense (i.e., “yes, I did it, but I was justified in doing it”), only to sit there at trial and watch his lawyer argue self-defense? – NO, INSINUATE that a) the Tempe PD was incompetent, b) the Tempe PD was biased, and c) that Gukeisen’s brother Michael stabbed Garrett Hohn.
Perhaps Dan’s family is wonderful, and it is indeed a tragedy that their lives may have been destroyed by this. Garrett Hohn paid a steep price for being a loud, drunk and possibly obnoxious college student walking home from downtown Tempe. Dan Gukeisen played judge, jury and executioner, coming down from his UPSTAIRS condo, behind two doors, with a knife. He has still refused to acknowledge responsibility, and even thumbed his nose at the court (this by a lawyer, no less) by refusing to come to court when the verdict was read. Gukeisen made a tragic decision, and has since compounded everyone’s suffering and anguish by refusing to admit his role. I hope to one day be able to say that I have forgiven him, but I am struggling mightily with that.
Excuse me, but there WAS a rock, that was used to bash in Dan’s brother’s face. I saw him the morning after the incident and it was not pretty.
I’m not saying that anyone deserved to die in this whole mess, but Dan was protecting himself after watching his brother get knocked out.
The whole thing is a tradgedy on BOTH sides.
to randy- if you watched the trial you would know that the only thing the eye witness knew for sure was that the guy that got hit was the guy that stabbed Garrett. everyone is talking about mike getting hit. sounds like mike stabbed garrett. since mike has immunity i guess we will go after dan!
Re: April 8, 2011 11:11 AM Anonymous – what do you mean “Dan was protecting himself after watching his brother get knocked out.” Dan DENIED DOING ANYTHING other than pushing Garrett Hohn. He denied having a knife. He denied having any knowledge of a knife. He denied having knowledge of any injury. If YOU have KNOWLEDGE that Dan did something, it would seem the prudent and honorable thing to do would be to contact the trial judge, the county attorney and the defense attorney to let them know.
Dan has turned himself in.
I was at the trial and listened to the testimony and watched Dan’s ploice interview. This was a case of self defense plain and simple. The fact that Dan was found guilty of manslaughter just amazes me. And the pictures of Dan’s face clearly show he was hit in the face with something and the revised police report does mention the rocks plus the shoe print in second story planter that Tempe police department refused to check out.
Everyone needs to stop arguing self defense. Self Defense is an affirmative defense, meaning that Gukeisens’s high priced defense lawyers would have had to prove that in court. They did not assert self defense at trial and Dan did not take the stand.
Had he done so – he could have admitted that he stabbed Garrett (He has never done that) – and then convince the jury that he acted in self defense.
I find it pathetic and cowardly that the Gukeisen supporters can argue self defense on public BLOGs like this, but when it came time to prove their claim in court – they tried to argue that Dan didnt even do it – see Randy’s comment above
If it was self defense, why didn’t Dan admit to the stabbing in the Police interview. From what I hear – he only acknowledged some shoving back and forth between him and Garrett. He never even acknowledged having the knife.
So yes asserting self defense in trial is awfully hard – when you have spent so much time hiding the truth
and covering your tracks. The fact is this ATTORNEY made a very bad decision. it was his decision that ruined his family’s life and his decision that left a young man dead.
Why didn’t the Attorney dude just call 911 to report a disturbance instead of going to the street?????
He did. Either he or his wife called 911 and the police never came.
Don’t suggest that “the police never came” for a long period of time. He called 9-1-1 at 1:58 a.m., and then hung up. The first call of a stabbing came in at 2:05 a.m. Gukeisen said he saw the headlights of two vehicles approaching BEFORE he went back into the condo, and thought one of them was probably the police. Wouldn’t you or I, if in fact we hadn’t done anything wrong, have been out there waving the cars down rather than hiding out in the condo for another hour another hour and a half. And, the April 9, 2011 9:23 PM post makes a great point about self-defense. Someone suggested there was a shoe print in a “second story planter” – what nonsense. There is no second story planter. The supposed shoe print, found days later, was outside adjacent to the public sidewalk.
While I appreciate the emotion of this issue for both sides,
I reserve the right to preclude comments that use foul language, make threats or is overly inflammatory to either side.
If your comment was not posted please try and rewrite with these principles in mind.