Plymouth man already serving prison time for girlfriend's shooting now faces murder charge

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Austin Robert LeClaire

PLYMOUTH, Minn. (FOX 9) - A Plymouth man who pleaded guilty and is already serving prison time in the 2022 shooting of his girlfriend is now facing a murder charge after her death this past August.

2022 Plymouth shooting

What we know:

Austin LeClaire, 30, was charged on Monday with second-degree murder for the death of his girlfriend Daisy Olga Melia Colonnese.

In 2023, he pleaded guilty to first-degree attempted murder and was sentenced to 18 years behind bars for the same shooting.

The backstory:

On Nov. 25, 2022, Plymouth police responded to a report of a possible shooting at a home on 40th Place. LeClaire had called 911 himself, claiming he had been on the phone with the victim, Colonnese, when he heard a gunshot.

When police arrived at the home, they found Colonnese in the garage, shot in the head and lying in a pool of blood. She was rushed to the hospital with critical injuries. Officers reached out to LeClaire, who told investigators he was at work but promised to show up at the scene in 20 minutes. But, after he didn't show up for an hour, police started looking for him, tracking his cell phone location to western Wisconsin. He was ultimately stopped by police and arrested in Clark County.

During police interviews, LeClaire claimed he got into an argument with the victim, threw his gun, then heard his fire when he was walking out of the house. But police said surveillance video showed LeClaire arguing with Colonnese, threatening to shoot her, before pulling the gun.

Dig deeper:

Colonnese lived for nearly three years after being shot. She passed away in August 2025 with the medical examiner determining her death was the result of complications from her gunshot wound.

"During much of those three years, [Colonnese's] daily existence was truly hellacious, requiring round-the-clock care, intensive rehab, and numerous medical procedures," the new criminal complaint details.

Protected by double jeopardy?

Big picture view:

While LeClaire has already been sentenced in the shooting, officials argue in the criminal complaint that LeClaire is not protected by "double jeopardy" – the constitutional protection that prevents someone from being prosecuted twice for the same crime. In Minnesota, double jeopardy is built into the state constitution under Article I, Section 7, which states "no person shall be put twice in jeopardy of punishment for the same offense."

The complaint states: "While there is no Minnesota Supreme Court or Court of Appeals decision directly on point, it is clear Minnesota statutory and case law does not prohibit prosecuting Defendant for completed murder despite his plea to attempted murder, as the facts necessary to proving completed murder had not occurred at the time of Defendant's plea or sentencing."

In the complaint, authorities argue that most courts in the country allow for this type of prosecution. That wasn't the case in Wisconsin until 2003, when the state had a "year and a day" rule that prevented murder prosecutions for deaths that occurred more than a year after an attack.

What's next:

LeClaire is currently being held at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Faribault. His estimated release date for his current attempted murder conviction is December 2034. It's unclear what type of sentence LeClaire could face if convicted on the murder charge.

A court date has not been set for LeClaire on the new murder charge.