Criminal Sentencing and Punishment

Corey Thomas gets 34 years for strangling girlfriend, stuffing her in St. Paul crawl space

When Corey Thomas left Minnesota for Miami in the fall of 2011, he told his brother he was "tired of Minnesota women." The truth is he was really trying to put distance between himself and the spot where he'd stashed his girlfriend's murdered body.SEE ALSO: Stillwater man, upset about Xbox ban, beat ... More >>

Shane Bauer: Out of Iran, investigating America's prison system

For two hellish years, the Iranian government held Shane Bauer prisoner on suspicion of being a spy. The worst part, he now says, was the four months he spent in a solitary cell. But since his release, Bauer has been surprised to discover even more troubling prison practices happening on American so ... More >>

Minnesota prison term lengths on the rise as crime falls

SEE ALSO:-- Michael Biskey, south Mpls resident, could get 10 years for having a bunch of pot in his garage-- Shakopee women's prison houses 79 murderers, is across street from elementary school, has no fence-- Twin Cities 4th-most peaceful metro; Minnesota 4th-most peaceful state, study finds [GRAP ... More >>

Stephon Shannon indicted in Nizzel George murder

Stephon Shannon, the 17-year-old charged earlier this summer in the fatal shooting of a 5-year-old in north Minneapolis, has now been indicted by a grand jury for first-degree murder. Shannon was previously charged with aiding and abetting murder in the first degree, a felony that could carry a ma ... More >>

Amy Senser gets 41 months in prison

Amy Senser has been sentenced to 41 months in prison for killing Anousone Phanthavong in a hit-and-run last August. The decision was announced downtown today and reported by KARE 11 on Twitter. State guidelines called for a 41- to 57-month sentence; the defense attorney for Senser, Eric Nelson, wan ... More >>

CeCe McDonald to serve out sentence in male prison

Chrishaun "CeCe" McDonald, the transgender woman who pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter last month, will remain in a male prison for the duration of her sentence, despite safety concerns from her attorneys and supporters. Minnesota prisons do follow transgender placement guidelines that c ... More >>

CeCe McDonald to be incarcerated in male prison -- at least for now [VIDEO]

Chrishaun "CeCe" McDonald, a transgender woman who pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter last month, will be incarcerated in a male prison, at least for now. McDonald was arrested last summer for fatally stabbing Dean Alvin Schmitz outside the Schooner Tavern in South Minneapolis. The Hennep ... More >>

William Jacobs, ex-Parks chief and convicted child molester, disbarred

Convicted child molester William Jacobs agreed to disbarment yesterday, according to a press release issued by the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility. Jacobs, a former teacher and one-time Minneapolis Parks Police chief, pled guilty to molesting children last month and was sentenced to ... More >>

Ronald Schneider, 70-year-old cop killer, denied parole

Cop killer Ronald Schneider won't be getting out of prison anytime soon. Schneider, a 70-year-old convicted of murdering a Robbinsdale police officer in 1985, is one of just a few men currently in the Minnesota prison system unaffected by the 1993 law mandating life without parole for killing a cop ... More >>

William Jacobs sentenced to 18 years in prison for child molestation

The next time William Jacobs is a free man, he could be well into his 80s. Jacobs, a former Minneapolis Parks Police chief and teacher, was sentenced to 18 years in prison Monday for child molestation and possession of child pornography. And when he is released, he'll serve another 10 years of p ... More >>

Paul Hill shoots .22 caliber handgun at acquaintance, controversially avoids prison time

Hill is a basketball coach and father of Ohio State hoops star Tayler Hill.​Last September, Paul Hill -- a father of seven with a clean record -- got into an argument with an acquaintance named Patrick Adams outside the YWCA at 2121 E. Lake St. in Minneapolis.The argument escalated into a physical ... More >>

Denny Hecker being transferred to mystery prison

Once the owner of a 17,000 square-foot mansion, fallen auto mogul Denny Hecker is now just trying to find a stable prison cell to call home. Hecker, who pleaded guilty to multiple counts of fraud two years ago, was transferred out of the federal prison in Duluth on February 8, confirms Chris Burk ... More >>

Michael Hudalla sentenced to 6 years in prison, ordered to pay $847,000 in restitution

​Michael Hudalla, formerly a prominent figure in the Minneapolis biker scene, was sentenced to more than six years in prison yesterday for two racketeering charges. Hudalla was also ordered to pay a combined total of $847,023 in restitution to City Mortgage and Provident Funding. We first wrote a ... More >>

Thomas Hart, accused hater of "girl's night," charged in ferret drowning

Thomas Hart was arrested for ruining "girls night."​Thomas Hart might have drawn a few strange looks from other inmates if anyone in Hennepin County Jail asked what he was in for.The answer is, Hart was doing time for murder. Ferret murder.Last week, Hart was arrested for the drowning death of his ... More >>

Rainbow Foods fires store manager Scott Ostrom, who was stabbed

​Rainbow Foods store manager Scott Ostrom was fired a week after the man who stabbed him was sentenced to prison. Ostrom had been store director at the Midway Rainbow Foods in St. Paul on May 9 when Russell Terry Johnson stabbed him in the chest because he was angry over a debit card transaction ... More >>

Scott Whitcomb, former DEA employee, sentenced to 25 years for child pornography

Whitcomb got near the maximum sentence for his crime.​Scott Whitcomb, a former police officer and employee with the Drug Enforcement Agency, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for the production of child pornography. Whitcomb, 48, was arrested in December after he was caught by police in an ... More >>

Robert Shelby and Semaj Williams charged in murder of Shea Stremcha

Shelby and Williams face a sentence of up to 40 years in prison.​Robert Shelby and Semaj Williams broke into Shea Stremcha's house and shot him to death after he confronted them with a knife, according to a complaint filed  by the Hennepin County Attorney's office yesterday.Shelby and Wiliams ... More >>

Chrishaun McDonald says transgender status means unfair murder trial ahead

​Chrishaun McDonald, charged with stabbing David Schmitz to death earlier this month outside The Schooner Tavern in South Minneapolis, is claiming that her status as transgender jeopardizes her ability to receive a fair trial. McDonald is also claiming self defense.

Sgt. Joseph Bozicevich murder sentencing held up by parachute accident

Bozicevich faces life in prison. The question is whether or not he may be eligible for parole.​The sentencing date for Minnesota Sgt. Joseph Bozicevich, recently convicted of murdering two fellow Army men in 2008, has been put off indefinitely because his attorney was involved in a skydiving a ... More >>

Kenneth Lee Johnson sentenced in Anthony Titus's murder

​Anthony Titus was 16 years old when he was gunned down in an alley near Fremont Avenue N. last Fourth of July, the city's 26th homicide of the year. Minneapolis police say he and his friends were "mean mugged" by some gang-bangers in an SUV because one of the guys hanging out with Titus was ... More >>

Timothy Carson, troubled ex-cop, sentenced for robbery spree

Timothy Carson: All the shit hit the fan at once.​Timothy Carson, the Minneapolis Police SWAT team member who carved a swath of violent robberies through Hennepin and Dakota counties last year, will serve 122 months in prison. Carson is already serving an eight-year federal sentence in Texas ... More >>

DMX: Will the Ruff Ryder rise again?

Hear exclusive new songs from the troubled rapper

Tom Petters to bunk at Leavenworth

Photo via WikipediaThe United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth -- The Big House -- is Tom Petters' new address​Ponzi schemer Tom Petters is headed for The Big House: the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas. And unless his legal team can pull a rabbit out of its hat and win an app ... More >>

David Hoffman denied parole in murder and dismembering of wife

David Hoffman​By the time David Hoffman was done with his late wife, Carol, he'd choked her to death, cut her up, tried to feed the pieces to the garbage disposal, and then dumped them in Weaver Lake. That was in 1980. Yesterday, the 63-year-old Corcoran man was denied parole on his 1981 co ... More >>

Wisconsin parolees impersonate dead soldiers to cash checks

Honoring the war dead shouldn't include check forgery​One suspects that when American troops die in battle to protect truth, justice and the American way, they don't include check fraud as a value worth fighting for. Not that that bothered three Wisconsin parolees caught trying to cash checks ... More >>

Ming Sen Shiue planned to kill Stauffers

The revelation came yesterday during a hearing on whether convicted murderer, kidnapper, and rapist Ming Sen Shiue should be civilly committed or released.

Tom Petters channels Bernie Madoff

Tom Petters​Seeking a more lenient sentence after his client was convicted of orchestrating a $3.65 billion Ponzi scheme, disgraced businessman Tom Petters's lawyer, Paul Engh, has decided the best way to make his point is to equate Petters with one of the most reviled figures in New York's fi ... More >>

Tom Petters, Ponzi schemer, likely to face life sentence next month

The convicted swindler could easily receive a life sentence for the Ponzi scheme.

Wisconsin man arrested for drunken driving pees on cop's head

His lawyer managed to get the felony count of expelling bodily substances at a public safety worker dismissed in court.

40 years in prison for man hired to punch pregnant woman in gut

Paul Andrew Petersen punched a pregnant woman, prompting her baby's premature birth and subsequent death.

Pennsylvania convicts may be exported to Minnesota

The state of Pennsylvania's prison system is overflowing, and some of its convicts may be coming to Minnesota.

Man who planned deadly fetus punch gets life in prison

When your girlfriend gets pregnant and doesn't get an abortion, it's time to take matters into your own hands. And then spend the rest of your life in prison. Awesome idea.

Wis. parents get six months in jail for daughter's prayer death

The parents who prayed instead of seeking medical care for their dying 11-year-old daughter have been sentenced to six months in jail for her death.

Man sentenced to 2 years for Molotov cocktail possession during RNC

One of the Texas men accused of possessing Molotov cocktails during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul has been sentenced to two years in prison for the crime.

Wisconsin: Man kills girlfriend, paralyzes child after crashing car, fleeing

What's wrong with Wisconsin?

It's Wisconsin: Pastor, parishioner cited for shooting arrow during church

It only happens in Wisconsin.

Only in Wisconsin: Paraplegic gets 6 years for bank robbery

What's wrong with Wisconsin?

What's Wrong with Wisconsin?

What's Wrong with Wisconsin?

Jodi Picoult

In Defense of Rollback Smiley

Wal-Mart gets support from an unlikely ally: Target's hometown

Kevin McHale: Too sleepy for his own good

Inmate, Inmate, Who's Got the Inmate?

Under budgetary pressure, the state's prisons transfer costs—and prisoners—back to counties

Don't Throw Away the Key

Do you want to know a secret about sexual psychopaths? They're not the ones committing most of the sex crimes.

Crime blotter: repeat customer

Minnesota by the numbers: Our aging prison inmates

The Drug War: Back with a Vengeance

A new bill in Congressional committee would drastically increase sentences for many kinds of drug offenses

Minnesota Lockdown: We're Number One!

The Great Minnesota Tax Dodge

Meet 10 of Minnesota's most notorious state tax scofflaws