Background: The Scott County Government Center in Shakopee, Minn. (Google Maps). Inset: Jennifer Lynn Lieber (Scott County Sheriff”s Office).
A Minnesota woman will spend more than two decades in prison for fatally shooting her boyfriend.
Jennifer Lynn Lieber, 47, was found guilty of second-degree murder in connection with the 2024 death of her boyfriend, 45-year-old David Nanovic. On Tuesday, a Scott County judge sentenced her to 25 1/2 years in prison for the fatal shooting, which Lieber originally claimed happened when she kicked a gun out of Nanovic’s hand and it went off accidentally.
According to a criminal complaint reviewed by Law&Crime, Lieber had been making threats to kill Nanovic and his then-10-year-old son the night of the shooting.
On the night of March 4, 2024, deputies from the Scott County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call for a welfare check requested by Lieber’s estranged husband, who told police she was “acting weird.” He had received a call from Nanovic’s son, who said Lieber was threatening to kill herself.
When police encountered Lieber and a female friend of hers, Lieber told the police that she “really f—ed up,” and said that she and Nanovic got into an argument. Lieber claimed that Nanovic had a gun, and when she kicked it out of his hand, it went off.
Police found Nanovic covered in blood at the bottom of the stairs in the home he shared with Lieber and his son. Nanovic was pronounced dead at the scene. Deputies eventually found his son, who told them, “Jennifer is probably freaking out because she had the gun in her hand.”
Nanovic’s son told police that he, his father, and Lieber were all watching TV in the living room that night. At some point, Lieber became “agitated” and grabbed a handgun, which she held onto all night. The boy said she started calling Nanovic “racial slurs” and insulting him. He told police that Lieber had been physically abusive toward Nanovic in the past, and their time in her home was like “living in hell.”
Nanovic and his son left Lieber and went to the pool house on the property.
Around 9:30 p.m., the two children Lieber shared with her estranged husband came out to the pool house and said their mother was “acting crazy. The two kids then returned to the main house. About 30 minutes later, one of the children called Nanovic’s son and asked him and his father to come back and check on the family’s dogs. When Nanovic and his son approached the house, Lieber pointed her gun at them and told them not to come inside before firing a shot.
Nanovic and his son went back to the pool house. The son said his father went back to try to check on the dogs again, and that was the last time he saw his father alive.
Lieber’s friend told police that Lieber called her “in a panic” and told her, “[T]here is blood everywhere and it’s not my fault.” She said she would call 911 after her friend came to the house. Meanwhile, Lieber’s two children called their father to tell him that Lieber was “not acting normal.” Lieber’s estranged husband then called police to conduct a welfare check.
Deputies arrested Lieber at the scene. An autopsy determined that the gunshot wound to the head that killed Nanovic was a contact wound.
Lieber was found guilty by a jury of second-degree murder in January. She was sentenced to 25 1/2 years in prison with credit for 232 days served.
