A man stabbed during a tubing excursion on Wisconsin’s Apple River, who survived with the most serious injuries, showed jurors a long scar from below his belt line to above his ribs Wednesday.

Another person injured, who also was called to testify, cried as an attorney displayed a photo in court of her lying injured near the river.

During the third day of the trial of Nicolae Miu, who is accused of murder in the stabbing of 17-year-old Isaac Schuman, jurors heard from people who’d been injured and other witnesses from various tubing groups, including Miu’s own group and his now-ex wife.

Just over two hours after setting off on the western Wisconsin river on July 30, 2022, Schuman was fatally stabbed during a chaotic confrontation that he and others had with Miu, a then 52-year-old mechanical engineer who is also charged with stabbing and injuring four others some 100 to 200 yards upstream from the Highway 35/64 bridge in Somerset.

Miu, of Prior Lake, claimed he acted in self-defense after being attacked by a large group of floaters who accused him of being a “pedophile” while he was looking for a lost cellphone and carrying a snorkel and goggles. Miu’s attorney, Aaron Nelson, told jurors on Monday that he was “outnumbered” and “feared for his life.”Ex-wife calls suspect a ‘peaceful person’

Sondra Miu, called by the prosecution to testify, said Wednesday that she and her then-husband Nicolae Miu went tubing with a group of people they knew. They were listening to music on a cellphone, but at one point the phone ended up in the river.

Under cross-examination by Nelson, Sondra Miu said she’d told Nicolae Miu ahead of time not to wear a ring because cold water would cause it to fall off his finger. He decided to bring a snorkel and goggles to look for jewelry in the water, Sondra Miu said.

“Nic is a very peaceful person,” she said to a question from Nelson.

Sondra Miu said she and Nicolae Miu married in 2011 and she testified she still loves him.

Jurors didn’t hear that Sondra Miu filed for divorce from Nicolae Miu in Dakota County on March 19. A judge granted it the next day, noting they’d reached a marital termination agreement.

Miu has been jailed since the July 30, 2022, confrontation and the findings of fact in their divorce said the couple has been separated since July 31, 2022, and “there has been an irretrievable breakdown of the marriage relationship.”

Wounded recall trauma of the day

Also testifying Wednesday was Ryhley Mattison, 25, who said she and her friends were tubing but stopped because she heard mention “about a group looking uncomfortable,” referring to Schuman and his group.

Mattison said she and her friend, Madison Coen, walked up to a man they now know as Miu. She testified she remembered Miu punched Coen in the face without saying anything. She thought Miu also punched her, but she’d been stabbed.

“I looked down and I was bleeding out and holding my stomach and it just didn’t feel real,” she testified. “… From there I was walking around the river asking for help. … I felt like I was dying.” She was taken by ambulance to a hospital and underwent surgery.

Mattison and another friend injured that day, 24-year-old Tony Carlson, testified they were intoxicated and they were asked questions in court about their memories of that day.

Asked why Carlson told police at the time that he was blanking out about what happened, he said in court Wednesday, “Because afterwards, I was holding my friend’s intestines,” referring to A.J. Martin, who was asked to show his scar to jurors during his testimony Wednesday.

Martin underwent surgery and said he was hospitalized for 27 days, during which he lost 50 pounds.

Nelson asked Martin follow-up questions after he testified for the prosecution, including about Martin saying he was trying to mediate the situation on the river.

“You can understand how a person in Mr. Miu’s position who’d been hit twice in the water might not understand or appreciate your intent to try to de-escalate by pushing him?” Nelson asked.

“It could have been solved if he tried to use words at all, too,” Martin said.

The trial will continue Thursday, with prosecutors continuing to call people to the stand to testify. When they are done, it will be defense attorneys’ turn to the do same.