The defense lost its bid for early dismissal, but jurors will still hear the argument that Ethan Grasse acted in self-defense.
EVANSTON, Wyo. — A Wyoming judge has refused to dismiss a second-degree murder charge against Ethan Grasse before trial, ruling that the 23-year-old had not shown enough at an early hearing to end the case over his father Michael Grasse’s shooting death.
The ruling matters because it defines the next stage of a closely watched family homicide case. Judge James Kaste kept the prosecution in place, yet said the defense may still argue self-defense at trial. That means the central question has shifted from whether the case should be thrown out now to whether jurors will believe Ethan Grasse reasonably feared serious harm when he fired through his bedroom door in November 2025.
The court fight took shape after Ethan Grasse, through Assistant Public Defender Tammy Fields, filed a Jan. 29 motion asking for dismissal on self-defense grounds. Fields argued that the evidence showed Ethan was in his own locked bedroom during the early hours of Nov. 22 when he heard someone force entry. She wrote that Michael Grasse had been drinking heavily the previous day, had a history of drinking and driving, and had grown threatening after his son tried to stop him from getting behind the wheel. At a March hearing, the defense laid out that account in an effort to show that the shooting was legally justified. Kaste later ruled that the showing was not strong enough to warrant ending the case before a jury ever heard it.
That legal posture gives unusual weight to the facts that came before the gunfire. According to the filings summarized in local reporting, Ethan Grasse drove his father to get food on Nov. 21 because Michael wanted to go out while intoxicated. Back at the house, Ethan parked behind Michael’s car to keep him from driving. The defense says Michael then tried to move trash cans so he could get around the blocked vehicle, and a physical fight followed after Ethan threatened to call police. Ethan left for a time, searched for somewhere else to spend the night, and bought a locking doorknob at Walmart when no place was available. The defense says he returned home, found his father passed out, took his keys and phone, poured out whiskey and locked himself in his room.
The filings say the confrontation resumed around 10 p.m., when Michael Grasse demanded his property back and threatened to break down the door. At 10:44 p.m., Ethan texted his grandmother that he could hear threats through the wall and would defend himself if his father came through the door. Hours later, the defense says, Ethan woke to the sound of the door being broken, reached for a .22-caliber handgun and fired three shots without his glasses on. He later said he could see only the outline of a person entering. After hearing a moan, he put on his glasses and called 911. Police affidavits described in reporting say Michael Grasse was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead at 4:22 a.m.
Prosecutors have treated those facts very differently. The state charged Ethan Grasse with second-degree murder soon after the shooting and has argued for a trial rather than an early dismissal. In a later filing, Uinta County Attorney Loretta Howieson Kallas sought to introduce additional evidence that she said could speak to motive, intent and absence of mistake. Among the claims summarized in news coverage were allegations that Ethan had previously threatened family members, had been warned about keeping a loaded firearm in his room, and had a history of violent conflict inside the household. Those claims are not the charge itself, but they signal how the prosecution may try to widen the frame beyond the few seconds when shots were fired.
The result is a case that now rests on layered judgments: what Ethan Grasse knew, what he could see, whether he had other options, and how much danger he reasonably believed he faced as the door gave way. The early dismissal fight is over, but the self-defense issue is not. Ethan remains in custody in Uinta County, and the case is set for a four-day jury trial beginning May 12, when the same facts rejected as insufficient for pretrial dismissal will be tested before jurors in full.
Author note: Last updated April 13, 2026.