Elderly S. Dakota man pleads not guilty in killing

The lawyer for a 73-year-old South Dakota man accused of fatally shooting a long-ago classmate in a grudge he apparently harbored for decades has entered a not guilty plea and requested a jury trial.

Carl Ericsson is charged with first-degree murder in the Jan. 31 killing of retired Madison High School teacher and track coach Norman Johnson.

Defense attorney Scott Bratland entered the plea on Ericsson's behalf during a court hearing Thursday. A judge set a July 9 trial date.

The 72-year-old Johnson was shot twice in the face after answering the door at his house in Madison.

Ericsson's brother said in an affidavit that Ericsson was a sports manager at Madison High years ago and there was an incident in which Johnson did something to him.

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