Hennepin County Attorney's Office

Stephon Shannon sentenced to 28 years in Nizzel George murder

A judge sentenced a north Minneapolis teenager to 28 years in prison today for the murder of Nizzel George, a 5-year-old shot while sleeping on his grandmother's couch last summer. Stephon Shannon, 17, was indicted last August on multiple counts related to the slaying, including first-degree murder ... More >>

Pedro Ayala-Leyva gets record 30-year sentence for smuggling meth from California

On Tuesday, Hennepin County Judge Regina Chu doled out a record sentence for a Minnesota drug crime and sentenced Pedro "Peli" Ayala-Leyva to 30 years in prison for his role in a large methamphetamine operation.Peli, 37, was found guilty in October of conspiracy to traffic drugs. State sentencing gu ... More >>

Toddler fatally shot 2-year-old brother in Minneapolis

A 4-year-old shot and killed his 2-year-old brother in a home on the 1900 block of 7th St. S. this afternoon, says Minneapolis police spokesman Sgt. Bill Palmer. At this point the details are few, but Palmer says police arrived on scene around 12:45 Wednesday. Emergency responders loaded the young ... More >>

Daily Caller report linking Amy Klobuchar and Petters "is old rehashed stuff," Ken Avidor says

On Friday, The D.C.-based Daily Caller published a report alleging "that U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar helped keep a multibillion-dollar Ponzi schemer [i.e., Tom Petters] out of prison in the late 1990s when she was the County Attorney in Hennepin County, Minnesota."SEE ALSO: Tom Petters, convicted Pon ... More >>

Minneapolis: Home to top hipster hood

Plus, Brett Favre pube-gate leads to laughs while DRE Occupy scandal thickens

Philip Pariso charged for holding bankers hostage with a fake bomb

The Hennepin County Attorney's Office filed charges Monday afternoon against the man who allegedly held a downtown Minneapolis bank hostage with a book bag last Friday. According to the criminal complaint, Philip Pariso, a 33-year-old from Inver Grove Heights, told bankers at M & I that he was arm ... More >>

Derrick Catchings charged as adult in shooting of north Minneapolis teen

Derrick Deangelo Catchings, a 16-year-old from Brooklyn Park, will be tried as an adult in the murder of a teenager slain on his bike last summer in north Minneapolis, according to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office. Catchings has been in jail since last September on a separate case, and made hi ... 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 >>

Shannon Riley, social worker, had sex with client in the park

Shannon Riley pled guilty this week to felony sexual conduct for having sex with one of her clients at the park. Riley, 40, was entrusted with an adult man who had a "history of chemical dependency and past sexual abuse," according to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office. In early 2011, Riley too ... More >>

Timothy Marshall pleads guilty to strangling HCMC lab technician

Timothy Marshall, the 45-year-old charged with choking a lab technician in a hospital bathroom, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault Tuesday.Last October, Marshall jumped the technician from behind in a Hennepin County Medical Center bathroom, strangled her to the floor and began punching her in ... More >>

Cory Donta Edwards, convicted of attempted murder, creates scene in Hennepin County court

Cory Donta Edwards made a scene at the county courthouse yesterday as a Hennepin County judge prepared to sentence him for attempted murder. Judge Marilyn Kaman denied a request to sentence Edwards to less time than sentencing guidelines called for. Edwards turned and began walking toward the vacan ... More >>

Brian Griffin pleads guilty to Millennium Hotel murder

The man charged with fatally shooting someone in a Millennium Hotel room earlier this year pleaded guilty to second-degree intentional murder Wednesday. Brian Vincent Griffin, a 33-year-old from Dayton, Minnesota, was smoking meth in the hotel room with three other people last February, according t ... More >>

CeCe McDonald trial is underway

More than 40 supporters gathered outside a Hennepin County courtroom this morning for the first scheduled trial date of Chrishaun "CeCe" McDonald, a transgender woman accused of murdering Dean Alvin Schmitz outside the Schooner Tavern last summer. Though it's still in the jury selection phase, the ... More >>

Hennepin County court gap cycles out mentally ill offenders

One man arrested or cited more than 150 times

Chris Cook faces another felony charge

​One month later, Minnesota Vikings cornerback Chris Cook is finding himself in even more trouble for allegedly attacking and trying to strangle his girlfriend. The Hennepin County Attorney's Office amended the criminal complaint to include a second felony charge after the woman reported sufferin ... More >>

Octavia Marberry charged, Good Samaritan free in vigilante justice killing

Octavia Marberry is facing two felonies for her role in the muggings.​The Minneapolis Good Samaritan who caught Darren Evanocich in the act of mugging a woman and eventually shot and killed Evanovich will not be charged. That's not the case for Evanvovich's sister, Octavia Marberry. This afternoon ... More >>

Chris Cook charged with domestic assault; Vikings cut Bernard Berrian

Chris Cook is facing a felony charge for his alleged attack.​The Christian Ponder era is off to a rocky beginning. Vikings cornerback Chris Cook, arrested early Saturday after a domestic abuse incident, has now been charged with a felony for an assault that left his girlfriend crying and bleeding ... More >>

The Minnesota Vikings are the NFL's most arrested team

Chris Cook is on this list... twice!​The Minnesota Vikings could not pull off a miraculous comeback against the Green Bay Packers yesterday.The loss drops the Vikings to 1-6 on the season. But, as it turns out, there is one statistic in which Minnesota is leading the NFL: arrested players.Accordin ... More >>

Adam Sterling convicted, sentenced to life for murder of Leo Kohorst

​Adam Sterling, the 24-year old man on trial for the murder of October 2010 murder of his landlord, Leo Kohorst, was convicted by a Hennpin County jury this morning of first- and second-degree murder. A couple hours later, the jury came back with a life sentence for the murder.Sterling was found g ... More >>

Daniel Rick convicted of knowingly spreading HIV virus

​Daniel Rick has been found guilty of knowingly spreading the HIV virus through unprotected sex with another man, a felony that could put him behind bars for as long as a decade. The man who had sex with Rick in the spring of 2009, when the two had known each other only briefly, told police the en ... More >>

Diane Bakdash, mother of Timothy Bakdash, cleared on all charges

​Diane Bakdash was a nurse practitioner with a squeaky clean reputation until the night her son Timothy allegedly mowed down several pedestrians in Dinkytown, killing one. According to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office, it was motherly fidelity that led Bakdash to assist her son in a hasty dis ... More >>

How Minnesota became the second-highest state for mortgage fraud -- or not

This north Minneapolis house was one of the properties featured in a 2006 fraud scam.​Minnesota is either the second-best or second-worst place to hatch your mortgage fraud scam.The Mortgage Fraud Index came out yesterday morning and ranked Minnesota second-highest in the country for incidence of ... More >>

Keith Ammons charged with shooting ex-girlfriend eight times; victim survived, but paralyzed

Keith Ammons only stopped shooting when the gun jammed.​Keith Ammons's ex-girlfriend had a date on Monday night. Because Ammons couldn't handle that reality, he has a court date -- and she will probably spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair. The Hennepin County Attorney's Office filed four fe ... More >>

Lonell Powell and Tionne Hunter charged in murder of Shabar Hildebran

Lonell Powell, Tionne Hunter: The alleged shooter, accomplice.​Lonell Powell and Tionne Hunter have been arrested and charged for the north Minneapolis brawl and shooting that left one man dead and another injured on Saturday.Powell, 23, is the alleged trigger man who shot Shabar Hildebran, who wa ... More >>

Jeron Patterson arrested for arson of Mark Dayton's former home

Police traced Patterson with his debit card purchases.​Jeron Patterson, a 29-year-old Minneapolis man with no prior criminal record, was arrested yesterday for the arson that damaged the former home of Gov. Mark Dayton.At 2 a.m. July 2, Patterson set three different fires to the outside of the hou ... More >>

Transgender suspect Chrishaun McDonald didn't kill Dean Schmitz, witnesses claim

Chrishaun McDonald, who is transgender, stands accused of murder​Just after midnight on June 5, two groups of strangers began shouting at each other outside Schooner Tavern in south Minneapolis.A brawl broke out, and when it was over, Dean Schmitz, 47, lay in the street bleeding to death.Chrishaun ... More >>

Maurice Harrison and three others face drug charges from after-hours club raid

​The wild details of Wednesday's early morning raid of an after-hours club at 3019 27th Ave. in south Minneapolis haven't resulted in equally wild charges, at least not yet.Police described finding alcohol, marijuana, heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine, and suspected ecstasy pills on the scene, as wel ... More >>

James and Wendy Ober charged with massive, $10 million mortgage fraud

Hennepin County Attorney's OfficeThe Obers allegedly used these and other fake business identities written on the back of a cell phone.​Hennepin County prosecutors filed racketeering charges Tuesday against husband and wife real estate team James and Wendy Ober of Hudson, Wis., and two Minnesota m ... More >>

Ben Van Handel wasn't Timothy Bakdash's intended target on the night he died

​It was just last week that Timothy Ayman Bakdash was indicted on first degree murder charges in the death of Benjamin Van Handel. But the narrative of why Bakdash ran the U of M student down and killed him has changed considerably. Van Handel apparently died in a case of mistaken identity.

Timothy Bakdash: Police refuse to release mug shots

CaringBridgeBen Van Handel was killed after being struck by a car in Dinkytown April 15.​It was last Thursday that police arrested Timothy Ayman Bakdash and charged him with second degree murder for deliberately running his car onto the sidewalk and into three university students in Dinkytown. ... More >>

Rachel Reeves's murder charges dropped after sitter flees to Mexico

Hennepin County JailRachel Reeves is off the hook for murder--but maybe not for long.​Rachel Reeves was supposed to go to trial yesterday on charges that she killed her 15-month old, Julia Leigh Rivera, two years ago. But when a key witness--the babysitter who was with the little girl when she sto ... More >>

Zachary Spader's alleged Habitat for Humanity swindle may bring more charges

Photo by Jason Taellious, Flickr.Spader admitted to his bosses pocketing about $60,000.​Zachary Spader, formerly a manager of the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, was charged in Ramsey County this week for allegedly pocketing tens of thousands from the store. Police now say Spader could be on t ... More >>

Amecio Navro Enge now charged with killing El Mio Ju Johnson

​Minneapolis police arrested and charged Amecia Navro Enge with second degree murder in October, alleging he intentionally ran over Maurice Meeks in a fit of rage. Now Enge faces a second murder charge. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner says that a second man, El Mio Ju Johnson, died from ... More >>

Tim Dolan calls David Smith's Taser treatment sad but legit

Dolan said his officers acted appropriately.​It took more than a week after Minneapolis cops shocked him into submission with a Taser for David Cornelius Smith to die of his wounds at Hennepin County Medical Center. That confrontation, at the downtown YMCA, was more than a month ago. Today, M ... More >>

Chris Kallal's attorney wants to jump ship

Lars LeetaruPolice say Kallal has lived a double life.​Grant Scott Smith -- the attorney representing Twincy co-founder Chris Kallal -- filed a motion yesterday to withdraw from his case, says Santo Cruz, Hennepin County Attorney's Office media relations representative.

Hoax: No woman bound, beaten and thrown in car trunk [UPDATED]

MPD learns a kidnapping story was a hoax. The four people involved said they just wanted to attract attention. The police had wasted their time.​Updated: The suspected kidnapping last night on Broadway was a hoax, Minneapolis police say, and they are not happy about it. Their reaction is below ... More >>

Ashonti Devon Allen arrested in weekend shooting death

​Eighteen-year-old Ashonti Devon Allen was booked into the Hennepin County Jail this afternoon for probable cause murder in the death of a man early Sunday morning in North Minneapolis, according to police. The shooting was at a home in the 3800 block of Thomas Avenue North, where one man was ... More >>

Minneapolis police arrest two suspects in February 4 homicide

MPD says both men were arrested early this morning by officers from the First Precinct

Charges filed in burglary that led to K-9 death

A man and a woman were charged with burglary, but not with harming the K-9.

Suspect arrested in Minneapolis's 6th homicide

Police have arrested a suspect they say may have killed 32-year-old Juan Francisco Canas Ramirez.

Rommal Bennett's trial revisits spate of gay murders in the Twin Cities

Case could solve August 1996 slaying of Wally Lundin

Party games

Three murders and one reaction

Addicted To Drug Court

The Good News and the Bad News: Hennepin County’s drug court has cleared court dockets and steered a lot of people toward treatment. It’s also allowed the county to push thousands more casual offenders into the corrections system.

He's Sorry

Former gang prosecution snitch Johnny Edwards recants--sort of

The Watchdog That Never Barks

Can the county sheriff's office impartially investigate the MPD?

Drinking Games

Two high-profile convictions rekindle a debate over what to do when drunk drivers kill

A Civil Reaction

A former First Avenue bartender pursues her old employer--and three men who she claims raped her--all the way to the state supreme court

There's the Rub

Minneapolis cops and their good neighbors set sights on another south-side sauna

Get Out of Jail Free

In drug- or gang-related cases, one of the favorite weapons of prosecutors is confidential informants like Johnny Edwards. Trouble is, a lot of them will say anything to get themselves out of the hot seat--and continue committing crimes while they're turn