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Mike Freeman has indicated
that the County Attorney's Office intends to file additional
charges against Allen Lawrence Scarsella, 23, of Lakeville, one of the men
accused in the shooting of five peaceful protesters outside the
fourth precinct on November 23.
During a hearing to keep
Scarsella’s bail at $500,000, Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Judith Hawley
told Hennepin County District Court Judge Hilary Caligiuri that the bullet is
lodged so close to 19-year-old shooting victim Tevin King’s arteries that it
can’t be removed from his abdomen. As a result, Hawley said she will be filing
a new charge of first-degree assault to replace the original second-degree assault.
In addition to the charges brought against Scarsella, Joseph Martin Backman, 27, of Eagan, Nathan Wayne Gustavsson,
22, of Hermantown and Daniel Thomas Macey, 26, of Pine City have each
been charged with one count of second-degree riot-armed with a dangerous
weapon.
"There is no doubt that the attack by the four was racially
motivated," Freeman said. "The defendants' own statements, their
videos, show that these are sick people. Maybe I shouldn’t say that, but the
language they use, and what they say about fellow Americans, citizens, are just
not acceptable.”
Freeman said the
Minnesota hate crime law only moves a misdemeanor crime to a gross misdemeanor
and a gross misdemeanor to a felony. The four men were not charged with that
because the sentences for them, especially the suspected shooter, Scarsella,
would be significantly longer for the riot and assault charges.
Scarsella criminal complaint
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In June, with the approval of the Hennepin County Housing & Redevelopment Authority, lawyers in our office went to work to cut the forfeiture time of nine tax-delinquent homes from three years to five weeks.
Mark Chapin, director of the
Hennepin County Residential and Real Estate Services Division, said that county
staff and Minneapolis regulatory employees identified these nine properties as “the
worst of a bad bunch.” In fact, the photo shown here of the property in the 4000
block of Dupont Ave. N., is a prime example. The abandoned property sticks out
like a cat at a dog show. All of the other homes on the block are in good
condition.
In tax forfeiture, a property
owner has stopped paying his or her property taxes. Hennepin County can begin
the process of taking possession of the property, but under the law, the owners
can have up to three years to redeem their property by paying the back taxes.
However, the county can take
possession of tax-forfeited properties in just five weeks if it can be proved
that an owner has abandoned the property.
Chapin praised Hennepin County
Attorney Mike Freeman for allowing his staff to take the time to try something
new. The pilot project has been deemed a success and Chapin will recommend that
the Housing and Redevelopment Authority identify another 10 properties next
year.
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