Trials

Three Native Mob members guilty in federal case

After a nearly two-month-long trial, three members of the highly organized, Minneapolis-born Native Mob gang were found guilty in federal court Tuesday of a combined 16 counts, including racketeering and attempted murder. The guilty verdicts mark a victory for prosecutors in a criminal investigatio ... More >>

Mercado Central Cooperative sued by angry shareholders

Lake Street's Mercado Central is meant to support Latino business owners, but an ongoing lawsuit alleges that it's treating them unfairly and bringing their businesses down. Fourteen of Mercado Central's 48 shareholders filed a lawsuit earlier this year against the co-op detailing a number of grieva ... More >>

Amy Senser settles civil lawsuit with Phanthavong family

Joe and Amy Senser have settled the wrongful death lawsuit against them over the hit-and-run death of Anousone Phanthavong, according to the victim's family's attorney. Terms of the settlement have not been publicly released, but the settlement comes a day after Amy Senser was found guilty of crimi ... More >>

CeCe McDonald pleads guilty to lesser charge

Chrishaun "CeCe" McDonald, a transgender woman facing two second-degree murder charges, agreed to a plea deal in court today. McDonald pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter, which will carry a 41-month sentence. McDonald was accused of stabbing Dean Alvin Schmitz in the heart outside the S ... More >>

Timothy Bakdash guilty of murdering Benjamin Van Handel

​Timothy Bakdash was found guilty of second-degree murder by a Hennepin County jury yesterday afternoon. Hennepin County prosecutors charged Bakdash with first and second-degree murders over a spring 2011 incident where Bakdash, who had been drinking at The Library Bar in Dinkytown, deliberately ... More >>

Keith Dodson ordered to pay $65,000 for invading privacy of live-in nannies

Flickr, Eriwst. The lawsuit alleged Keith Dodson masturbated with the nannies' underwear.​In an unusual invasion of privacy case, a Prior Lake man was ordered to pay $65,000 last month for intruding on two women living in his house. Keith Dodson entered the rooms of two live-in nannies hired ... More >>

Martin Kessman, 290-pound man, sues White Castle on behalf of pregnant women

Is there an inalienable right to slyders?​What is it about White Castle that makes so many people feel access to slyders is their inalienable right? Just a couple years ago, a wheelchair bound St. Paul woman (who happened to be a former stripper, remember?) lost a lawsuit against the Castle ... More >>

Outback Steakhouse ordered to pay $1.25 million in tip-sharing lawsuit

Outback servers won a class action lawsuit over tip pooling. ​Tip-pooling--when a restaurant's waitstaff shares a percentage of their gratuities with untipped staffers, such as bussers and dishwashers--has become a popular practice at some local restaurants, including Piccolo and Travail. Bu ... More >>

Jonathan Rubio-Segura on trial for murder, faces possible deportation

Hennepin CountyJonathan Rubio-Segura killed Anthony Gale in March 2010.​Jonathan Rubio-Segura is living two nightmares. The 27-year old is on trial this week for second-degree murder after he drunkenly punched Anthony Gale in the face outside a downtown strip club in March 2010. Rubio-Segura's su ... More >>

John Heuer pleads guilty to kidnap, assault of 8-year-old girl he called a hooker

Heuer pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal sexual conduct and one kidnapping charge.​John Heuer, the Spring Lake Park resident who kidnapped and sexually assaulted an 8-year-old girl, pleaded guilty yesterday to the facts of the case, WCCO reports. Heuer was arrested in May for kidnapping a gi ... More >>

Michael Richard Swanson will plead guilty to second Iowa murder

Michael Richard Swanson will plead guilty.​Michael Swanson has already been found guilty of murdering Sheila Myers in cold blood at a store in Humboldt, Iowa, last November. Now he's going to plead guilty to the second murder that night, of Vicky Bowman-Hall, in Algona. His legal team is tell ... More >>

Johnson & Johnson's Levaquin risks were known, jury decides

Our cover story, Achilles Heel, documented Johnson & Johnson's efforts to prove its drug was safe​A federal jury in Minneapolis has decided that the risks of a blockbuster drug made by Johnson & Johnson were well-established, directly contradicting a verdict another jury reached last fall. ... More >>

Minneapolis will pay Tanise Winder $190,000 to settle police brutality case

Winder says officer Lukes "viciously tackled" her.​The City of Minneapolis will pay out $190,000 to a woman who says a police officer did nothing as another woman attacked her, and then tackled her when she tried to fight back. Tanise Winder filed the federal lawsuit in 2009 accusing Minneapo ... More >>

Stephanie Smith settles with Cargill over toxic meat

Screengrab via YouTubeStephanie Smith ate a hamburger tainted with E.coli from a Cargill facility​Cold Spring's Stephanie Smith, left paralyzed from the waist down after eating a hamburger tainted by E. coli traced to a Cargill meat processing plant, has agreed to settle a lawsuit against the ... More >>

Tim Pawlenty denied health care lawsuit

​Almost before the ink was dry on President Barack Obama's signature making it the law of the land, the health care reform package passed by Congress was challenged in two separate federal lawsuits by 15 Republican governors; 14 were led by Florida's attorney general and Virginia's AG filed a ... More >>

Denny Hecker and Steve Leach plead not guilty to new round of fraud charges

If convicted, Hecker and Leach face a potential maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Ryan Stanley Hurd indicted by Minnesota grand jury on murder charges

Hurd is accused of stabbing his Eagan, Minn. girlfriend more than 100 times and leaving her in a ditch.

Mary Stauffer stalked by former math student Ming Shiue

Mother survives 53 days trapped in closet with her daughter

Family sues Minneapolis park police for breaking boy's arm

This family has faced off with police before: In 2005, a Minneapolis police officer shot and killed the boy's older brother.

Abused Wisconsin girl testifies father made her eat cockroaches

A social worker testified that she thought the girl was dead when she found her, emaciated and wounded, on the floor of a bedroom closet.

Skate park's former owner sentenced after 'touching' conviction

Wayne Lee Cummings learns he's going to spend a very long time in prison.

The Trial of Tom Petters: A graphic look at a sensational trial

Ken Avidor will be offering his unique artistic take on a sensational trial that has barred cameras.

Bar violated smoking ban by misusing acting loophole

A Babbitt, Minn. bar thought they were clever when they had bar patrons war "Actor" badges so they could smoke in the bar under the theatrical production loophole in the Minnesota smoking ban.

Only in Wisconsin: Man finds roadkill deer, eats it, mounts head

A Wisconsin man has been ordered to return the roadkill deer head he mounted after eating the animal's remains.

Accused GOP convention sandbag thrower pleads guilty

The man accused of dropping a 50-pound sandbag onto Interstate 94 during the Republican National Convention pleaded guilty Monday.

Wis. man breaks into house, sleeps on couch, eats cornbread

Casual robbers, Facebook blackmailers, pet killers, lesbian beaters, and a religious leader accused of hiding a corpse on a toilet. Can Minnesota top that? Never.

Minneapolis Hilton orgy participant comes forward, sues coworker

First RNC protester files police brutality suit

Minneapolis foreclosure crisis story in USA Today

Willmar raid nets lawsuit

You have to fight for the right to pray

Have You Seen Me?

A law-and-order Christian conservative most people have never heard of tries to wrest the AG's office away from the DFL

Crime blotter: divine intervention

Johnny Earl Edwards: the archive

Most Expensive Hand-Job Ever?

A Hunk of Burning Love

Minneapolis Fire Chief Bonnie Bleskachek had a way with the ladies--as firefighter Kristina Lemon claims she learned the hard way

Something for the Little People

The Twin Cities-based Northwest Area Foundation has a $450 million endowment to use on charitable programs. So why has it been nearly invisible for years?

Crazy

The sad, strange case of Darren Odell and the sorry state of our insanity laws

Tainted Love

Plans to open a West Bank homeless shelter hit another snag

Fouling the Air

Employees say Northwest Airlines works harder to avoid discrimination lawsuits than it does to stop bigotry

Arrested Development

City officials say the head of the Frogtown Action Alliance is dodging them. Two former employees say he sexually harassed them. Leaders in the struggling St. Paul neighborhood fear Shem Shakir's bad karma is contagious.

Purple Stain

Securities scams, karaoke-bar brawls, and the occasional boozy ride: At least there's one championship the Vikings might be winning

The Yo-Yo Files

Why did it take three investigations, two trials, and one year of legal ups and downs to convict Alfred Flowers of sassing a cop? He may never know: Minneapolis, Hennepin County, and the FBI have declared the records top-secret.

Counselor at U files anti-gay discrimination suit

Stool Pigeon Redux

His trial was a comedy of errors, but the man Johnny Edwards fingered for murder isn't laughing

David Lebedoff: Cleaning Up

Court TV

State's Evidence

A police informant with a mile-long rap sheet proves unreliable in at least the third--but possibly not the last--of the so-called "Bloods" cases.

GLASS CEILINGS, "LOCKER ROOM CONDUCT," AND WCCO.

The Trials of David Lillehaug

In the wake of Najarian and Shabazz, the U.S. attorney and former DFL prodigy finds his once-bright political future in question.