The Minnesota Court of Appeals has upheld the murder conviction of Matthew Ecker for the shooting death of his girlfriend at her St. Paul apartment. The unanimous decision by a three-judge panel rejected Ecker’s claim that his conviction should be overturned due to insufficient evidence proving beyond a reasonable doubt that he shot Alexandra Pennig in December 2022. Ecker argued that the circumstantial evidence could support a reasonable hypothesis that Pennig died by suicide.
A Ramsey County jury convicted the 46-year-old emergency room practitioner in February 2024 of second-degree intentional murder, a charge not involving premeditation. He received a 30-year prison sentence. During the trial, the state alleged that Ecker shot Pennig in the head during a struggle at the bathroom door in her apartment. Ecker contended that Pennig took her own life after locking herself in the bathroom.
Ecker’s legal representative in his appeal, Attorney Robert Richman, refrained from commenting on the court’s decision. However, he disclosed that a petition to the state Supreme Court is under consideration, noting that it is still early to make any definitive statements.
Ecker, a resident of Fergus Falls with his wife and four children, had been romantically involved with Pennig for approximately two years. Trial proceedings revealed that Pennig, a former nurse, faced challenges with addiction and mental health and had previously attempted suicide by overdosing on medication. Ecker had prescribed her several medications and provided approximately $28,000 during their relationship.
Manner of Death
The emergency call made by Ecker to 911 took place at 2:50 a.m. on December 16, 2022, from the Lofts at Farmers Market apartment located at 260 E. Fifth St., reporting that Pennig had shot herself with his handgun. Ecker stated that he called four minutes after the incident and mentioned having a permit to carry a firearm. Officers discovered Pennig lying on her back in the bathroom with a gunshot wound on the left side of her head. She was right-handed, which Ecker described as “weird” in the criminal complaint.
According to Ecker, he and Pennig had been drinking at downtown bars, and after Pennig’s alleged self-inflicted shooting, he forced the bathroom door open with his shoulder to reach her. Officers noted that Pennig’s feet straddled the door, and a piece of the door’s lock was found underneath her, suggesting to prosecutors that the door was open, not closed, when she collapsed.
Ecker’s trial attorney, Bruce Rivers, highlighted to jurors that both the medical examiner and a forensic pathologist hired by the defense classified Pennig’s manner of death as “undetermined.” Rivers argued that Ecker, who waived his right to testify, had no motive to kill Pennig, emphasizing his care and love for her. Despite this, the prosecution reminded the jury that proving motive was unnecessary for a guilty verdict, but they presented one: Ecker’s financial support of Pennig, coupled with her plans to live with a new boyfriend who had punched Ecker in the face at a bar shortly before the killing.
Inference of Guilt
The appellate judges evaluated whether a reasonable inference of guilt could be drawn from the circumstances as a whole. The positioning of Pennig’s legs relative to the bathroom door and the metal latch piece beneath her were consistent with the prosecution’s theory that Ecker forced open the door before she was shot and that it remained open when she died. The gun, belonging to Ecker, was found in Pennig’s left hand, even though she was right-handed.
Ecker claimed to have washed his hands after trying to stop the bleeding, yet officers found no blood on the sink handles and discovered the sink to be dry. Although Ecker denied cleaning the firearm, his DNA was absent from the gun despite his acknowledgment of moving it from the bathroom to his suitcase and back.
Dr. Kelly Mills, Ramsey County’s chief medical examiner, testified that she had not encountered a suicide case where the romantic partner repositioned the gun as Ecker described. Mills also stated that the evidence did not align with a suicide scenario.
Ecker’s primary argument in his appeal contended that even if circumstances supported a guilty inference, they equally supported the inference of suicide. He leaned heavily on evidence of Pennig’s prior suicide attempt and a text message she sent on December 13 expressing a lack of hope about life. However, the court emphasized that inferences must be evaluated as a whole rather than in isolation.
Planning Her Future
The ruling highlighted Pennig’s active planning for the future, including job interviews, arrangements for rent and prescription refills, and plans to attend a wedding. Her lack of familiarity and dislike of firearms, coupled with multiple testimonies from witnesses, indicated the improbability of her using a gun to end her life.
In his appeal, Ecker also cited physical and forensic evidence, arguing inconsistencies with guilt. He pointed to the nature of the gunshot wound, the absence of defensive wounds, the lack of blood or gunshot residue on his hands or clothing, and the presence of Pennig’s DNA on his holster. Nevertheless, the decision noted that his argument relied on isolated details and overlooked circumstances such as Pennig’s clean hands, dry sink, and the crime scene’s inconsistencies with suicide.