Teenager pleads guilty to botched drug deal murder in Austin

Mark Wasson, Emily Cutts, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn.
·1 min read

Jul. 7—AUSTIN — A Sioux Falls, S.D., man pleaded guilty this week in Mower County District Court to shooting and killing an Austin man during an alleged botched drug deal in June 2021.

Miguel Nunez Jr., 19, pleaded guilty to a second-degree murder charge Wednesday, June 6, 2022, as part of a plea deal that will dismiss two other second-degree murder charges against Nunez. The plea deal calls for a 180-month prison sentence.

District judge Kevin Seifken ordered Wednesday that Nunez continue to be held on a $1 million bail or bond and not to have contact with witnesses or victims.

His sentencing date is scheduled for Oct. 27.

David Harris, 45, of Austin, was the man Nunez pleaded guilty to fatally shooting.

A juvenile who spoke to the police reported that he and Nunez went to Harris' Austin home on June 5, 2021, under the guise of buying marijuana, but intended to rob the home's residents. Nunez dropped his weapon on the way out of the house, according to the criminal complaint.

Law enforcement investigating a shooting complaint found Harris in his home with three gunshot wounds to the chest. He was pronounced dead at the scene. A second person, whose identity was not released, was injured, Austin Police Capt. Todd Clennon said shortly after the incident.

Following the shooting, Nunez fled the state before being apprehended July 8, 2021, in the attic of a Sioux Falls home.