An inmate at the Oak Park Heights prison was gravely injured on Friday during an inmate-on-inmate assault, Minnesota Department of Corrections officials said.

The inmate, 59, is being treated at Regions Hospital in St. Paul with “potentially life-threatening injuries,” said Sarah Fitzgerald, a spokeswoman for the DOC.

The inmate was found by prison staff to be “unresponsive and bleeding from his head” just after noon on Friday after he was allegedly punched by a 22-year-old inmate and “struck his head while falling,” according to the DOC. “It has also been determined that the suspect kicked the victim about the head and face several times after he was down.”

He was taken by ambulance to Regions.

No weapons were believed to be involved in the assault, and the motive for the assault is unknown, Fitzgerald said.

The suspect, a 22-year-old inmate, was secured without incident and is currently being held in administrative segregation pending the outcome of the investigation, she said.

“While we make every effort to ensure a safe environment for both staff and those in our care, custody and control, incidents such as this can start and end in a matter of seconds and have grave consequences,” Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell said in a prepared statement. “Our concern at the moment is the victim, his family and our staff impacted by this incident.”

Minneapolis police say a 75-year-old man has died after he was assaulted last week by a Metro Transit bus rider.

Police said the victim died shortly after 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.

A 23-year-old Minneapolis man was charged Friday with assaulting the man, who authorities say had told the suspect and his friends to keep their voices down on the bus.

According to the Hennepin County attorney’s office, Leroy Davis-Miles was charged with first-degree assault in the Wednesday attack.

On Tuesday, the county attorney’s office filed an amended criminal complaint to include second-degree murder charges against Davis-Miles. An autopsy was also pending with the Hennepin County medical examiner’s office.

Prosecutors say the victim and Davis-Miles and his companions all boarded a bus last Wednesday afternoon. At one point, bus surveillance video showed the victim asking the noisy group to quiet down.

The young men grew hostile and threatened to beat the man when he got off the bus.

When the older man got off the bus at the Chicago-Lake Transit Center, Davis-Miles and his companions also exited. According to surveillance video and witnesses, Davis-Miles walked next to the man for a short distance before punching him once.

The victim fell backward and hit his head on the pavement.

Prosecutors say Davis-Miles and one of his friends shook hands in a “congratulatory manner” and then rummaged through the man’s pockets.

Police used facial recognition software to help identify Davis-Miles.

He was arrested at his home Thursday, and clothing matching that seen in the video was seized.

Davis-Miles remains jailed on $150,000 bail.

The bus rider’s death marks the 36th homicide of the year in Minneapolis, police said.

FARGO, N.D.  — A former North Dakota grain trader who admitted to bilking farmers, elevators and commodity brokers out of millions of dollars was sentenced Tuesday to eight years in federal prison.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland, who imposed the prison sentence, also ordered Hunter Hanson to pay $11 million in restitution.

Hanson, 22, who became involved in the business shortly out of high school, pleaded guilty in July to wire fraud and money laundering for defrauding about 60 sellers in North Dakota, Minnesota and Canada. U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley of North Dakota said Hanson “undermined generations” of hard work by families in agriculture.

“These losses would be financially debilitating at any time, but they are back-breaking at such a challenging time for our critically important ag sector,” Wrigley said in a statement.

Court documents show that Hanson, of Leeds, contracted with the victims to buy crops and either failed to pay them or sent them checks that bounced. He allegedly laundered money between his multiple bank accounts and other businesses. At one point he had 11 identified bank accounts associated with his companies and owed one bank more than $460,000.

Authorities say Hanson often bought crops from farmers and elevators above the per-bushel market value and then sold them below market value to further the Ponzi scheme. In doing that, Hanson lost more than $131,000 in transactions between McClusky Coop Elevator and Osnabrock Farmers Coop Elevator.

Wrigley said the government will attempt to locate any of Hanson’s proceeds and “offset the losses to the degree possible.”

The North Dakota Public Service Commission shut down Hanson’s Devils Lake-based businesses last year after it received multiple complaints from farmers and others. The case led state lawmakers, upset that Hanson received a license when he allegedly had no grain marketing training or experience, to transfer grain regulatory authority from the PSC to the state Agriculture Department.

An Eagan police officer and four Bloomington officers who fired shots that killed a 23-year-old man in July were justified in using deadly force, Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom has concluded.

Backstrom’s office announced the decision Wednesday morning in a statement, while also releasing a summary of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigation that sheds light on what led up to Isak Abdirahman Aden’s death. The BCA also released its reports and videos of the incident Wednesday.

Aden, of Columbia Heights, was shot 11 times July 2 after a four-hour standoff with police outside a business in Eagan, according to the reports. Aden was a domestic assault suspect armed with a handgun, police said the day after the shooting.

Aden’s death led to protests at Eagan City Hall and elsewhere by his family and friends, who said that he did not deserve to die and that authorities should release additional information, including police reports, 911 audio tapes and video footage from squad cars and body-worn cameras.

According to the reports, police officers and then trained negotiators tried to get Aden to surrender for nearly four hours before they decided on a tactical plan, which included using flashbangs and “less lethal munitions” in an attempt to distract and then subdue him.

“Unfortunately Aden did not surrender and instead got up from a seated position, lunged for the gun near him, picked it up and began to raise his right hand with the gun in it,” Backstrom said in his statement.

It was later determined that Aden fired the gun after he picked it up, he said.

“Fearing for the life of the numerous law enforcement officers at the scene, five police officers at that time fired lethal rounds, a number of which struck and killed Aden,” Backstrom said.

The officers were identified July 16 as Eagan officer Jacob Peterson and Bloomington officers Anthony Kiehl, Daniel Nelson, Matt Ryan and Adam Stier.

WHAT LED UP TO IT

According to the reports:

Just after 6 p.m., a woman called 911 and reported that her ex-boyfriend, later identified as Aden, had “just pulled a gun” on her. She said they had been in a car having a “tense” conversation when he pulled out the gun and told her to drive.

She said that when they reached an intersection near Twin Cities Premium Outlets at Silver Bell Road and Highway 13, she purposely drove the car into oncoming traffic to “create a scene.” Aden jumped out and ran.

Eagan officers and Minnesota State Patrol troopers set up a perimeter. About 6:23 p.m., Aden was seen in a residential area near the intersection of Burgundy Drive and Highway 13, but ran into a wooded area. Officers decided not to pursue him, instead calling the Bloomington police K-9 unit.

About 6:44 p.m., Aden was seen running across Highway 13 and officers chased him in patrol cars and on foot. Aden ran to a building at 1971 Seneca Road and “immediately put a gun to his head.” He sat down on a curb, the gun at his head.

Eagan officer Jeff Thul yelled at Aden to drop the gun, but he did not, repeatedly saying, “(expletive) shoot me.”

Until trained negotiators arrived at the scene, Thul was instructed to be the only officer to speak with Aden, taking cover behind the passenger door of his squad car.

About 7:25 p.m., Thul got into a Bloomington police armored vehicle and used a public-address system to speak with Aden.

Eagan officer Joseph Moseng, a trained negotiator, took over communications with Aden, first while in an armored vehicle and then by using a cellphone that was thrown in a box to Aden from another armored vehicle.

Moseng repeatedly asked Aden to put the gun down and to listen to the commands of the officers at the scene, but Aden did not comply.

At about 8:56 p.m., Aden put the gun down on the pavement between his legs. It was the first time he had set the gun down since Thul began speaking with him.

At approximately 10:32 p.m., when Aden was about 18 inches away from the gun and had the phone to his ear, officers threw flashbangs and fired less-lethal munitions. But Aden grabbed the gun and raised it, according to the BCA. Officers fired.

Aden’s final interaction with police — from the first flashbang until the last of the lethal shots — lasted about six seconds.

VIDEO IS SLOWED DOWN

Backstrom said body camera and squad car videos and recordings of officers’ conversations were taken into evidence and reviewed in the case.

A video from a state trooper’s squad car gives the clearest view of the area where Aden was located when the tactical plan went down, Backstrom said. A slow-motion version shows Aden picking up his gun and firing a round after the less-lethal devices were used, he said.

Under Minnesota law, the use of deadly force by a law enforcement officer is justified to protect the officer or another person from death or great bodily harm, Backstrom said.

“Each of these officers described observing Aden picking up his gun after the less lethal munitions were deployed,” Backstrom said. “It is our conclusion that it was objectively reasonable for these five police officers to subjectively believe Aden posed a deadly threat to other officers at the scene of this incident at the time they fired their service weapons and, therefore, they were legally justified in using deadly force.”

Despite his conclusion, Backstrom said, “any loss of life is a tragic occurrence, and I wish to express my sympathy to the family and friends of Isak Aden.”

The owner of a sailboat frozen in the St. Croix River north of Stillwater had never been sailing before this fall.

Mark Olson said he and his ex-fiancee bought the 26-foot white-and-blue fiberglass 1977 Pearson sailboat and a small dinghy for $1,500 in September after responding to a Facebook ad.

Unfortunately, a boat trailer wasn’t included.

“The plan was that we were going to learn how to sail it a little bit and then get it off the river and store it someplace else,” said Olson, 45, of Chisago City. “But things escalated, and it never ended up happening, and now I have a boat that is out on the water frozen.”

The boat is moored on the Minnesota side of the river near the Boomsite Landing in Stillwater Township.

A Minnesota Department of Natural Resources conservation officer and a Washington County sheriff’s office deputy were called to the area Sept. 27 after a tip about a “boater who had sunk a small boat near the Boomsite Landing,” according to police reports.

When the officers arrived, they found Olson bailing water out of a dinghy. He had tied his sailboat to the dock.

Olson told officers that he had just purchased the small boat and the sailboat and “did not have any experience boating and does not know who sank the small boat,” according to the report.

Officials got another call about the boat on Nov. 8 and again contacted Olson, said Sgt. Kyle Schenck of the Washington County sheriff’s office’s water, parks and trails division. “He said they were still trying to locate a trailer and people to help them remove it,” he said.

After another call came in Monday, officers went to the scene and found Olson “trying to break through the ice with a rowboat, which was not successful,” Schenck said.

Officers thought the department’s airboat might be able to break through the ice and “help them break it free and make a path to the Boomsite,” Schenck said. “But it’s sitting in about 3 inches of ice right now. I don’t know if our airboat is going to break through that.”

Even if the ice can be broken, Schenck is concerned.

“It’s pretty shallow in that area, and that sailboat has a skeg on the bottom,” he said, referring to the stern of the keel. “I don’t know how they would get that up to the Boomsite before bottoming out. It actually looks like the boat is resting on the bottom right now.”

Minnesota does not have a formal program for addressing abandoned or derelict watercraft. If the boat sinks, however, and is not removed within 30 days, the owner is subject to a civil penalty of two to five times the cost to remove, process and dispose of it.

Olson said Wednesday that he has gotten a trailer and plans to try to chisel the boat out of the frozen river on Friday morning.

“It’s going to get up above freezing, and I’m hoping it will thaw out enough where I can get the boat out of there and get it on the trailer,” he said. “But I don’t know … because this is the first time I’ve ever had to deal with anything like this.”

Olson, who works at the Target distribution center in Fridley and studies computer science at Metro State University, said he would welcome any help from experienced boaters.

“That would be very, very much appreciated because I’m really terrible at doing those kinds of things,” he said. “I really get myself into situations sometimes, I know.”

Federal authorities in the Twin Cities announced Tuesday that four more people have been charged in a scheme to steal more than $680,000 in funds from a program to help the homeless.

One of those charged was an employee of Catholic Charities who recruited co-workers and family members to take part, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. The money was from charitable funds that would have gone toward helping the homeless with housing and other needs.

“We at Catholic Charities are angered and frustrated to have been the victim of criminal acts where individuals who were entrusted with the responsibility of serving our most vulnerable neighbors conspired to defraud Catholic Charities,” the nonprofit said in a prepared statement. “It is important that the individuals involved in this criminal scheme be held accountable for their actions and seek to make amends as they move forward in life.”

According to federal officials, between April 2012 and February 2019, Catholic Charities’ former program manager Clarissa Combs, 48, of Brooklyn Park, hatched and participated in a scheme to obtain funds from the organization while also recruiting other employees, friends and family members to pretend to be homeless.

Combs directed them to provide their names and Social Security numbers to allow her to fill out federal documents, lease agreements and check requests. This let them pose as landlords providing housing to the homeless, then splitting the checks by the nonprofit between them, officials said.

According to the U.S. attorney’s office, Combs is charged with a count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and a count of making false statements to investigators.

The others — charged with a count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud — are:

• Bridgit Michaud, 54 of Minneapolis;
• Jalonda Combs, 37 of Brooklyn Park;
• Audrey Heath, 34 of Woodbury.

Five other defendants previously pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for their roles in the conspiracy.

The case stems from an investigation by federal and postal investigators.

Muslim leaders in the Twin Cities are urging police and the FBI to investigate weekend vandalism at a Northeast Minneapolis mosque as a hate crime.

Minnesota Public Radio News reported that surveillance video from the Salaam Cultural Center shows a person throwing rocks through a glass entry door and then kicking out the remaining broken glass early Sunday morning.

Minneapolis police are investigating the vandalism at the Central Avenue mosque. But police spokesman John Elder said the vandal did not leave any indication of motive, such as graffiti, so it would be hard to prove racial or religious bias.

The Minnesota director of the Council on American Islamic Relations, Jaylani Hussein, said mosques have been on edge since the attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March and the 2017 firebombing of the Dar Al Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington.

A 75-year-old Minneapolis man who died days after being punched during a dispute with a fellow Metro Transit bus rider has been identified.

Shirwa Hassan Jibril died Tuesday of complications resulting from blunt-force trauma head injuries, according to the Hennepin County medical examiner.

Leroy Davonte Davis-Miles, 23, of Minneapolis has been charged with second-degree murder in Jibril’s death.

Prosecutors say Davis-Miles was riding the bus with a group of companions last Wednesday afternoon, when Jibril asking the noisy group to quiet down. The young men grew hostile and threatened to beat the man when he got off the bus, charges say.

When the older man got off the bus at the Chicago-Lake Transit Center, Davis-Miles and his companions also exited. According to surveillance video and witnesses, Davis-Miles walked next to the man for a short distance before punching him once.

The victim fell backward and hit his head on the pavement.

Prosecutors say Davis-Miles and one of his friends shook hands in a “congratulatory manner” and then rummaged through the man’s pockets.

A high-speed chase throughout the east metro early Wednesday afternoon ended when a Washington County sheriff’s commander purposefully crashed his unmarked SUV into a pickup truck driven by a wanted fugitive driving the wrong way on Wisconsin 35 south of Hudson.

Jeffrey Morgan Groves, 51, was arrested on multiple felony warrants and taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul to be treated for injuries suffered in the crash, officials said.

Groves was wanted on a warrant for an alleged burglary, kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct incident that occurred on Nov. 3 in St Louis Park.

On Wednesday afternoon, members of the North Star Fugitive Task Force, working with the Hennepin County Violent Offender Task Force, attempted to arrest Groves in Newport in south Washington County.

When confronted, Groves fled the scene in a black Ford F-250 pickup truck that was allegedly stolen. He then led multiple law enforcement agencies on a pursuit covering several jurisdictions.

At several points during the chase, Grove drove the wrong way on major highways, including going east in the westbound lanes Minnesota 36, and drove on the median of Interstate 694, swerving in and out of traffic.

About 1:25 p.m., Groves crossed into Wisconsin over the new St. Croix River bridge — driving east on the bridge’s westbound lanes — and headed south through Hudson. According to the St. Croix County sheriff’s office, Groves drove into a ditch at one point, but was able to get out.

Groves was clocked going an estimated 70 mph through the Village of North Hudson and Hudson. Officers deployed tire spikes to try to stop the truck in Hudson, but Groves continued driving.

Groves then drove on the westbound off-ramp of Interstate 94 and entered the freeway going east in the westbound lanes. He eventually took the westbound on-ramp from Wisconsin 35 to I-94 and then traveled south on Highway 35 in the northbound lanes.

A Washington County sheriff’s commander “deduced the situation to be potentially deadly, so they performed a pursuit-intervention technique, which involves the deputy ramming into the suspect’s vehicle,” the St. Croix County sheriff’s office said.

Cmdr. Andy Ellickson, a 19-year veteran of the department, was not injured in the incident, said Brian Mueller, chief deputy of the Washington County sheriff’s office.

“Cmdr. Ellickson initiated contact to try and stop the vehicle in order to keep him from killing anyone on the roadway,” Mueller said. “We are so proud of this courageous act taken by Cmdr. Ellickson to save citizens’ lives.”

Following the collision, Groves crashed into an unoccupied disabled silver minivan that was parked on the shoulder of the highway, just south of Tower Road, and was ejected from the truck. Wisconsin State Patrol officials said he was partially trapped under the cab of the truck after it rolled and broke apart.

The entire incident remains under investigation by multiple agencies.

Groves had been wanted by police since Nov. 3. According to St. Louis Park police. A woman told police that Grove broke into her house and sexually assaulted her, police said. He then allegedly forced the woman to accompany him to two ATMs in the metro area and withdraw cash for him. It is unknown if Groves and the woman knew each other.

St. Louis Park investigators will be working with the Hennepin County attorney’s office on issuing formal criminal charges, police spokeswoman Jacque Smith said.

CHATFIELD, Minn. — A southeastern Minnesota man is facing two felony charges after the Olmsted County sheriff’s office said he shot and killed his family’s dog during an argument last week.

Richard Taylor Jordan, 31, of Chatfield, faces charges of overwork/mistreatment of animals and intentional discharge of a firearm that endangers safety.

Court records indicate he was released on conditions following his court appearance. Jordan has been ordered to surrender all of the firearms in his possession to law enforcement.

During an argument between Jordan and a woman, the woman fell to the ground and the family’s pit bull-Labrador retriever mix nipped at her shoulder, according to the criminal complaint.

The dog also nipped Jordan in the left ankle, court documents state. After that, Jordan pointed a shotgun at the dog, court documents state.

“The gun then went off and Witness saw the dog’s head fall over to the side,” the complaint reads. “Defendant (Jordan) immediately said that it was an accident. Defendant took the shotgun apart and placed it in a vehicle. Defendant wrapped up the dog and then left the scene.”

When Jordan was arrested on Saturday morning 23 miles away in Rochester, he reportedly told officers he shot the dog intentionally but did so because he was afraid for his safety and the safety of the children in the home.

After the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office asked for help identifying a man who groped several women in Vadanais Heights, people came forward with tips that led them to a 24-year-old suspect.

Other women also reported they were grabbed and law enforcement linked Daquine Akil Lewis, of North St. Paul, to five cases, according to criminal complaints.

Three women, ranging from 19 to 72 years old, were working at hotels in Vadnais Heights when they reported a man they didn’t know pinched or grabbed their buttocks in September and October.

Meanwhile, a 33-year-old shopping with her infant at the Walmart in Vadnais Heights reported a man, later identified as Lewis, was staring at her and circling around her several times on Oct. 10, according to a criminal complaint. No other customers or employees were in the area and the woman felt the man “was preying upon her,” the court document continued.

The woman said the man came up behind her and grabbed her buttocks “while trying to reach around her with” his other hand, the complaint said. She pushed him away and exclaimed, “Get the (expletive) … off me or I will call the police” and he ran.

The Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office released surveillance photos of the suspect on Oct. 15 and a 47-year-old contacted an investigator the next day.

She said she was sitting on a ladder to stock shelves at the Hobby Lobby in Woodbury when someone squeezed her buttocks. Surveillance video from the store matched the suspect seen in photographs in the Ramsey County cases, according to a criminal complaint.

After the case was publicized, the sheriff’s office received tips that led to the street name, social media account and home of the suspect. Law enforcement compared photos from social media with surveillance video and identified the suspect as Lewis, a complaint said.

Undersheriff Mike Martin expressed appreciation Thursday to community members who came forward to help identify Lewis.

On Oct. 16, law enforcement found Lewis in North St. Paul driving a vehicle that matched hotel surveillance video. He was arrested and opted not to talk to police, the complaints said.

Ramsey County prosecutors charged Lewis last week with four counts of fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct and burglary for allegedly forcing open a locked entrance of a Vadnais Heights hotel. He’s also charged with one count of fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct in Washington County.

Lewis has a pending criminal sexual conduct case involving a minor female, according to a criminal complaint; that case was in South Carolina, Martin said.

An attorney for Lewis was not listed in court records and he could not be reached for comment Thursday.

HIBBING, Minn. — An accomplice to the murder of an Aurora man along a northern Minnesota snowmobile trail was sentenced Thursday to 25½ years in prison.

Anthony Emerson Howson, 21, pleaded guilty in February to intentional second-degree murder for his role in the January shooting death of 33-year-old Joshua Robert Lavalley. Howson received the guideline sentence from St. Louis County District Judge Mark Starr at a hearing in Hibbing.

Howson, the second defendant to be sentenced in the case, will need to serve at least two-thirds of the term — 17 years — in prison before he is eligible for supervised release.

Deshon Bonnell, 19, was sentenced last month to life in prison for killing Lavalley. He pleaded guilty to a charge of first-degree murder while committing aggravated robbery. He will have the possibility of parole after 30 years.

The shooting happened after Lavelley allegedly made unwanted sexual advances toward Bonnell’s girlfriend, Bailey French, 18. Howson said Bonnell and French led Lavalley blindfolded into the woods on the Mesabi Trail, where Bonnell shot him in the head.

French also is charged with murder in the case. Her case is pending.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — A South Dakota neurosurgeon made millions of dollars by performing unnecessary and dangerous surgeries, including one that left a patient partially paralyzed, federal prosecutors contend in a lawsuit against the doctor.

Dr. Wilson Asfora enriched himself by using medical devices he invented during surgeries and receiving kickbacks from companies whose devices he used without disclosing the arrangements, the Department of Justice alleges in the lawsuit filed Wednesday.

Asfora performed complex spinal surgeries that shouldn’t have been done and that left at least one patient partially paralyzed, the Argus Leader reported.

Sanford Health settled a whistleblower lawsuit for $20 million in penalties last month. The hospital system was accused of allowing Asfora to defraud the government, but it denied wrongdoing or liability under the settlement.

Asfora, who worked for Sanford from 2007 until he was fired in August 2019, has denied any wrongdoing. His attorney, Steve Landon, said in a statement Thursday that Asfora “strongly denies” the allegations.

“He did not ever do a surgery or provide medical treatment for personal gain. He has always made medical decisions he believed were in the best interests of his patients. Unfortunately he now has no choice but to defend himself from these unfounded accusations,” Landon wrote.

Sanford Health said in a statement Thursday that Asfora is no longer employed by the Sioux Falls-based health system and that the lawsuit’s allegations “are solely between Dr. Asfora and the federal government and there are no unresolved claims against Sanford Health related to this matter.”

The new lawsuit alleges that Asfora performed surgeries that were “excessive,” “quite aggressive” and “against conventional neurosurgical teaching and practice.” When Asfora used the devices he either owned or in which he had a financial interest, he was using a kickback scheme to get payments from the federal government, prosecutors allege.

A 2011 surgery resulted in a patient’s partial paralysis of the legs, according to the lawsuit. A review determined that the surgery was aggressive and that Asfora opted to use “an extremely lengthy complex procedure when a shorter procedure could have been used,” prosecutors contend.

Other surgeons reviewed Asfora’s surgical practices and questioned his aggressive techniques, the lawsuit alleges. It also contends that Asfora concealed some of his relationships with device makers in order to hide his financial interests in their products.

The government is seeking damages for false claims, unjust payments and incorrect payments, and is requesting a jury trial to determine damages.

DULUTH, Minn. — A highly intoxicated rural Cloquet man admitted to fatally shooting his friend early Saturday but would not elaborate on his reason for doing so, according to charges filed Thursday.

Thomas Allen Micklewright, 44, was arraigned in St. Louis County District Court in Duluth on a charge of unintentional second-degree murder in the death of 65-year-old James Arthur Couture. The shooting occurred inside Micklewright’s home on the Fond du Lac Indian Reservation northwest of Cloquet.

According to a criminal complaint, Micklewright and his wife were hosting Couture and his wife that night. Both couples had been drinking before Micklewright’s wife called 911 around 5 a.m. to report the shooting. Micklewright allegedly admitted during the course of that call that he intentionally shot Couture with a .40-caliber pistol but would not further describe the circumstances, the complaint said.

When law enforcement arrived at the residence, they found Couture in the kitchen, where he was pronounced dead. No weapons were found on his person or in the vicinity, according to the complaint. Both wives were believed to be asleep at the time of the shooting, the St. Louis County sheriff’s office previously reported.

Micklewright was detained without incident at the scene. Authorities said a preliminary breath-test administered at about 11 a.m. — approximately six hours after the shooting — placed his blood-alcohol concentration at 0.20, which is 2.5 times the legal limit for driving.

At the arraignment, St. Louis County prosecutor Korey Horn requested Micklewright’s bail be set at $150,000.

“The allegations in this case involve the violent death of a member of this community, and the information possessed by the state at this time evinces defendant’s lethal judgment while under the influence of alcohol,” Horn wrote in a letter to the court.

Public defender Natasha VanLieshout sought a referral to supervised release or a lower bail figure. She said Micklewright is a lifelong resident of the area and has no criminal history outside of traffic violations.

Judge Dale Harris settled on $125,000, citing public safety concerns in denying supervised release.

The judge also denied Micklewright’s application for the ongoing services of the public defender’s office, concluding he makes too much money to qualify. Micklewright and his wife have owned and operated a landscaping business for the past 13 years, VanLieshout said.

While Micklewright appeared in court, funeral services were being held for Couture in Cloquet. A Brookston resident, he was a Fond du Lac member who worked a number of jobs on the reservation, according to his obituary.

Micklewright is scheduled to be back in court on Dec. 3.

A St. Paul man who led east metro authorities on a high-speed chase Wednesday that ended in Wisconsin is accused of kidnapping and raping an elderly St. Louis Park woman last week.

Jeffrey Morgan Groves, 51, was charged Thursday with one count each of criminal sexual conduct, kidnapping and burglary, according to a criminal complaint filed in Hennepin County District Court.

When officers with the North Star Fugitive Task Force attempted to arrest Groves in the case Wednesday in Newport, he led them on a high-speed chase that ended when a Washington County sheriff’s deputy rammed Groves’ stolen pickup truck near Hudson, Wis.

Groves, who was ejected in the crash that ended the chase, is hospitalized in critical condition, according to court documents.

Further charges related to the chase, which spanned several jurisdictions, are likely, Washington County Attorney Pete Orput said.

Prosecutors in Hennepin County will seek bail of $500,00. A court date has not been set.

On Nov. 3, an elderly woman reported to police that she had been violently raped in her St. Louis Park home by Groves, whom she formerly employed as a handyman.

The woman told investigators that Groves had broken into her house early that morning while she was sleeping, burst into her bedroom and said, “I’m going to get you, you f—–g b—-h.”

Groves then violently raped the woman three times over the course of several hours, smoking what he told her was methamphetamine, according to the criminal complaint.

After stealing about $400 from the woman’s home, Groves allegedly tied the woman’s wrists and gagged her with pieces of fabric before forcing her into the passenger seat of his pickup.

He then drove them to two ATMs, where Groves forced the woman to withdraw another $800, the charges say.

Groves then dropped the woman off at her house, where he apologized for raping her and “told her that ‘Satan’ made him do it,” according to the complaint.

A medical examination of the woman revealed significant bruising over her entire body, broken blood vessels in her eyes and multiple injuries to her genitals.

Groves has an extensive criminal record that includes convictions for assault, domestic abuse, violating a restraining order, burglary and numerous traffic violations.

A St. Paul police officer testified Thursday that he believed a fellow officer’s three kicks to a man who was being bitten by a police dog were unnecessary.

Officer Brian Ficcadenti testified during the federal trial of officer Brett Palkowitsch, who is charged with violating the civil rights of Frank Baker.

Ficcadenti, who released the K-9 on Baker three years ago, testified that he regrets his actions that night and his silence until now, Minnesota Public Radio News reported.

In June 2016, the officers responded to an anonymous report of a man with a gun, described as black and having dreadlocks. Baker, returning to his East Side apartment, fit the general description but was unarmed and was not the suspect.

Looking back, Ficcadenti said he wouldn’t have released the dog so quickly to apprehend Baker.

Ficcadenti testified that he felt Baker was not a threat while he was in the jaws of the dog. He also said he felt Palkowitsch’s three kicks were not necessary.

But Ficcadenti has been reluctant to criticize Palkowitsch until now. Ficcadenti said he feared that if he spoke out, other officers would retaliate against him for breaking an unwritten code of silence.

Defense attorneys asked Ficcadenti if he is coming forward with this criticism now because he has immunity from prosecution.

A copy of an immunity agreement between Ficcadenti and federal prosecutors was displayed in court in St. Paul. According to the agreement, Ficcadenti is immune from prosecution as long as he testifies truthfully in this trial.

Defense attorney Deborah Ellis said both Palkowitsch and Ficcadenti were targets of a criminal civil rights investigation. But with the immunity deal, Ficcadenti is not in criminal jeopardy.

“It’s not a comfortable position to be in?” Ellis asked during one exchange.

“No,” Ficcadenti answered.

“More comfortable than being over here?” Ellis asked, pointing to Palkowitsch sitting at the defense table.

“Could be,” Ficcadenti said.

“Being there you’re not facing time away from your family?” Ellis added.

“No,” Ficcadenti responded.

Prosecutors say Palkowitsch’s use of force against Baker was excessive. Baker’s ribs were fractured and his lungs punctured.

Palkowitsch has pleaded not guilty. He was fired by Police Chief Todd Axtell but reinstated following an appeal and a ruling by a state arbitrator. He is now on paid administrative leave.

Axtell suspended Ficcadenti for 30 days.

In 2017, Baker sued the city of St. Paul and settled the lawsuit for a record $2 million.

The girlfriend of Philando Castile initiated a defamation lawsuit this week against a Rice County Sheriff’s deputy who tweeted that a settlement she received would be “gone in 6 months on crack cocaine.”

Previously, the cities of St. Anthony and Roseville agreed to $800,000 in settlements to Diamond Reynolds, who live-streamed the immediate aftermath of the fatal shooting of Castile in Falcon Heights by a St. Anthony police officer in 2016.

After the settlements were publicized in November 2017, Tom McBroom wrote on Twitter, “She needs to come off County and State Aid now that she has some cash” and followed up with the comment about cocaine, according to the lawsuit Reynolds served on McBroom Tuesday.

In addition to being a deputy, McBroom is the mayor of Elysian, east of Mankota. Neither McBroom nor his attorney, who represented him in his appeal of his demotion from sergeant, could be reached for comment Friday.

When Officer Jeronimo Yanez shot Castile, 32, Reynolds was in the car’s passenger seat and her 4-year-old daughter was in the backseat. A Ramsey County jury found Yanez not guilty of manslaughter.

Reynolds is pursuing a lawsuit against McBroom because she wants to protect her reputation and show her daughter that she stood up for herself, said Mike Padden, Reynolds’ attorney.

“For this man to be do this was horribly egregious,” Padden said Friday. “… She’s very angry about this situation, but overall she’s doing fine.”

Reynolds recently had another child and still lives in the Twin Cities, Padden said. She told Padden that any compensation she receives from the lawsuit would go into a fund for her daughter.

LAWSUIT: ALLEGATIONS ARE FALSE, DEFAMATORY

Padden wrote in the lawsuit that McBroom’s allegations saying Reynolds was “an abuser of serious drugs, has an addiction that causes her financial stress, and is someone who bases her entire existence in terms of her costs of daily living on support from municipalities and other state of Minnesota entities” are false and therefore defamatory.

McBroom “would have easy access to criminal history data for Minnesotans, and could have easily ascertained that (Reynolds) had never been charged or convicted for cocaine use,” Padden wrote, adding that Reynolds “has never used or abused cocaine at any time in her life.”

Padden also wrote in the lawsuit that McBroom’s statements were racially motivated.

McBroom told City Pages in 2017 that his comment didn’t have anything to do with race.

Reynolds’ lawsuit alleges defamation, intentional infliction of emotion distress and negligence, and seeks more than $50,000 in damages. It has not been filed in state court and Padden said he will see if they can reach a settlement with McBroom before doing so.

McBroom was a Rice County Sheriff’s deputy sergeant and was demoted to deputy after the incident, according to a decision by an arbitrator, who upheld the decision. McBroom appealed in state court and a judge affirmed the arbitrator’s decision last month. He’s worked for the sheriff’s office for 12 years and served in the military.

“His comments are not the comments or opinions or beliefs of the Rice County Sheriff’s Office,” Sheriff Troy Dunn said Friday.

In 2018, McBroom was elected mayor of Elysian, which has a population of about 650.

Police on Friday identified a woman who died in St. Paul after a single-vehicle crash as an 80-year-old from Stillwater.

Karen Jean Jeffers was driving northbound on Mound Street when she struck the sound barrier for Interstate 94 at Pacific Street in the Dayton’s Bluff area shortly after 5 p.m. Thursday, according to Sgt. Mike Ernster, a St. Paul police spokesman.

“The cause of the crash is under investigation, but it is possible that the female driver suffered a medical episode prior to the crash,” Ernster said. “Unfortunately, we won’t have some of those answers for a while.”

Jeffers, who was alone in the vehicle, was pronounced dead at the hospital.

A Ramsey County judge sentenced a 29-year-old man Friday to more than 30 years in prison for fatally shooting a young man at St. Paul’s Hmong Freedom Festival last year.

A jury found Nougai Xiong, of St. Paul, guilty of aiding and abetting murder and of crime committed for the benefit of a gang in September.

Jacky G. Vue, 19, of St. Paul, was killed on July 1, 2018, at the festival at Como Regional Park, where thousands attended to celebrate Hmong culture, food and sports.

Adrianne McMahon, Xiong’s attorney, said their position at trial was that Xiong was not involved. She said they will be filing an appeal.

“I think we were obviously disappointed,” McMahon said. “I think we did the best we could with the evidence and hopefully on an appeal we can get a better outcome.”

A gang member involved in a fight at the festival told police it occurred because they believed Xiong and his cousin were members of a rival gang. The cousin, Yang Houa Xiong, of La Crosse, Wis., told police that he and Nougai Xiong weren’t part of a gang.

Yang Xiong, 29, pleaded guilty to aiding an offender after the fact, and Ramsey County District Court Judge Mark Ireland sentenced him last month to seven years in prison.

Ireland sentenced Nougai Xiong to 31-and-a-half years in prison Friday.

A St. Paul man who shot into a school bus after a minor crash on a Minneapolis freeway during a February snowstorm has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison, the Hennepin County attorney’s office announced Friday.

Kenneth Lilly, 32, pleaded guilty in August to one count of first-degree assault for shooting five times into the small school bus, wounding the driver, 78-year-old Thomas Benson. Lilly was originally charged with attempted murder and second-degree assault.

“His actions caused a whole family a lot of anxiety, tears and pain,” Benson said in a victim impact statement.

According to the criminal complaint, around 2 p.m. on Feb.5, Benson was trying to merge from northbound Interstate 35W onto eastbound Interstate 94. It was snowing at the time, and the bus scraped Lilly’s black sedan, though Benson was unaware of it.

Lilly, a security guard, was in his uniform and carrying a handgun.

He stopped his car and walked toward the bus. Lilly tried to get Benson to open the door, but he refused because there was an 8-year-old girl on board.

Traffic camera video showed Lilly walking toward the bus driver’s side window as the bus appears to try to pull out. Traffic was moving slowly at the time because of the snow.

Lilly told the court that Benson bumped him with the bus, so in self-defense, he pulled out his gun and fired into the windshield. Prosecutors disputed his account, citing the traffic camera video evidence.

The child was not injured, but Benson was hit three times.

One bullet hit his left ear, causing him to lose hearing. Another tore off a fingertip on his left hand and traveled up his arm, lodging in his bicep, causing nerve damage. The third went through his left shoulder.

“The psychological effects are just as bad,” Benson said. “The longest moments of my life are when I was calling the child’s name to see if she was OK and there was no answer. … For quite some time I was afraid every time I had to leave my house that I would open the door and find the shooter standing there waiting to finish the job.”

Prosecutors were seeking an eight-year sentence.

“Mr. Benson is glad that the sentencing hearing is behind him,” said James Sheehy, Benson’s attorney. “He is in agreement with the court’s 86-month sentence of Mr. Lilly, and is glad the court rejected his so-called ‘imperfect self-defense.'”

Lilly’s attorney could not be reached for comment.

Sheehy said his office may sue Lilly’s employer, State Wide Protective Agency, to obtain further compensation for Benson’s pain and suffering.

In 2015, Lilly fatally shot a 16-year-old boy who was trying to rob him at a Mississippi River overlook on St. Paul’s Summit Avenue.

The Ramsey County attorney’s office did not charge him after determining the shooting was legally justified.