Share and Follow
Background: The Uinta County District Court in Evanston, Wyo. (Google Maps). Inset: Ethan Grasse (Uinta County Sheriff’s Office).
A man from Wyoming accused of murdering his father attempted to have the charges dropped, claiming he acted in self-defense. However, the court did not grant this request, leaving him the possibility to argue his case before a jury.
Ethan Grasse, aged 23, faces charges of second-degree murder for the shooting of his 49-year-old father, Michael Grasse, which occurred in November 2025. As reported by Cowboy State Daily, Ethan and his public defender argued for self-defense during a hearing at the Uinta County District Court. Ethan maintained that his father, who was heavily intoxicated, had threatened him with violence the day prior to the incident.
In response to these threats, Ethan reportedly installed a locking doorknob on his bedroom door to prevent his father from entering without his consent.
Documents reviewed by Cowboy State Daily reveal that on November 21, 2025, Michael Grasse was heavily drinking when he expressed a desire to go out for food. Ethan drove him to a restaurant and back home, strategically parking his car to block his father’s vehicle, aiming to prevent him from driving drunk.
Later, Michael moved trash cans to maneuver his car around Ethan’s blockade. Upon hearing this, Ethan confronted his father, threatening to call the authorities if he attempted to drive. This altercation escalated when Michael reportedly attacked Ethan physically, only subsiding through the intervention of Michael’s mother.
Police said Ethan Grasse left the home and went to a friend’s house to get away for a while and try to find another place to stay for the night. When he was unable to find another place, he went to Walmart and bought a locking doorknob for his bedroom. Ethan Grasse reportedly returned home to find his father passed out drunk on the couch.
According to the court documents, Ethan Grasse took his father’s keys and phone, then emptied several bottles of whiskey while his father was still unconscious. He changed the lock on his bedroom door then went to bed.
Police said that at around 10 p.m., Michael Grasse started banging on his son’s door, threatening to break it down and “kick [his] a—.” Ethan Grasse reportedly told his father that he would give back the keys and phone once he was sober. The older man, while continuing to make threats against his son, left to work out in his own room.
At 10:44 p.m., Ethan Grasse texted his grandmother from his bedroom, reportedly telling her, “He just woke up i can hear him threatening me throught [sic] the wall not to make you more sad but if he tries to break into my room i will defend myself love you yaya have a good night.”
Police said Ethan Grasse woke up again at 3:30 a.m. on Nov. 22, 2025, when he heard someone banging at his bedroom door. Without putting on his glasses, Ethan Grasse apparently retrieved the .22-caliber handgun he kept in his room as the door was being broken down. He then allegedly fired at least three shots through the door. When he heard his father let out a moan, Ethan Grasse put his glasses on and called 911.
Ethan Grasse wrote in court documents that since he could not see clearly without his glasses, he claimed that he “did not mean to kill any one just defend myself from an unknown intruder.”
Michael Grasse was brought to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4:22 a.m.
After the defense presented the case for self-defense in court on Tuesday, Uinta County District Court Judge James Kaste was not convinced that the case should be dismissed on those grounds. In his ruling, however, Kaste said the defense could still argue that the shooting was self-defense at trial.
Ethan Grasse was charged with second-degree murder and remains in custody at the Uinta County Jail. His trial is scheduled to begin on May 12.