Star Tribune
Duluth NAACP asks county prosecutor to drop charges against felon who turned in gun
DULUTH — Rummaging through his recently deceased brother’s vehicle last July in Duluth’s East Hillside neighborhood, Steven Cooper found a pistol.
Cooper, a 31-year-old felon who had been convicted of a violent crime as a teenager, knew he wasn’t supposed to possess a gun. So, he called his parole officer to turn it in, he said Thursday at a news conference on the steps of the St. Louis County Courthouse.
“I was honest from the start,” he said. “By doing the right thing, I am being punished.”
Cooper was arrested and then charged with felony possession of a firearm by the St. Louis County Attorney’s Office. He faces a return to prison for a minimum of five years.
The Duluth NAACP is calling on St. Louis County Attorney Kim Maki to drop the charges, alleging he’s being treated “unreasonably harshly” because he is Black.
Duluth NAACP President Classie Dudley said the charge sends a message to the community and to law enforcement working to keep guns off of streets.
“What this tells me is if you have an unregistered gun or if you are someone who has a gun that shouldn’t be in your possession, don’t turn it in,” she said.
In an unusual move, the St. Louis County Attorney’s Office released a lengthy statement about the case shortly after the news conference concluded.
The office stands by its charging decision based on initial evidence, the statement said, and with the investigation incomplete, it would be “premature to take action regarding the outcome of this case.”
“We remain open to whatever options are warranted when the investigation is completed. We will not, however, make legal decisions based upon community pressure or false and unfounded allegations of racism in charging decisions,” it said.
In 2006, when Cooper had just turned 15, he shot two convenience store clerks in their backs as he robbed a Duluth store. According to the Duluth News Tribune, both victims survived, but suffered collapsed lungs. Cooper was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was released after serving 13.5 years.
The criminal complaint from the July incident says Cooper told his parole officer about finding the pistol and some ammunition among things left behind by his brother, who died the previous April. He had wrapped the gun in a sweatshirt and put it in a secure place inside his apartment building before calling the parole officer, who notified police.
An excerpt of police body camera footage released by the NAACP shows the responding officer telling Cooper, handcuffed in the back of a squad car, that he did “the right thing,” but he shouldn’t have touched the gun. The officer also told Cooper that his honesty about the situation “is probably going to go a long way.”
Dudley questioned why the County Attorney’s Office went forward with charges when the Minnesota Department of Corrections opted against sending Cooper back to prison.
“It would have been safer for him personally to throw [the gun] in the ditch or give it to someone else,” she said.
Cooper, who now lives in St. Louis Park, said he was placed on an on-call status for his job building tanks for the federal government following the new charge. He had to pawn his possessions to post bail in July. The prospect of returning to prison triggers fear and PTSD from his years spent there, and the trust in the justice system he emerged with upon release has “completely disappeared,” he said.
“I have no faith in the system,” Cooper said.
The case was charged by Tony Rubin, son of former St. Louis County Attorney Mark Rubin. Tony Rubin was hired by his father controversially in 2019 over more experienced prosecutors, the Duluth News Tribune reported then.
Cooper’s next hearing is May 12. The County Attorney’s Office said it expects the investigation to be complete by the end of April.
The medical center is owned by a local nonprofit, but operated by Duluth-based Essentia under an affiliation agreement that dates back to 2009.
With the ruling announced Wednesday, Essentia Health says it will continue to operate the hospital, clinic, assisted-living and long-term care facilities in Fosston, plus clinics in Bagley and Oklee.
“Now that the arbitration process is over, Essentia is focused on the opportunity to engage our patients, colleagues and the community in building a shared vision for the future of health care in Fosston,” said Dr. Stefanie Gefroh, interim president of Essentia Health’s West Market, in a statement.
Arbitrators were asked to rule on whether Essentia eliminated a “core” service by discontinuing deliveries, since the city of Fosston would then have the right to terminate the affiliation agreement. But the panel in a 2-1 vote concluded that labor and delivery is just one aspect of obstetrics (OB).
“OB is a ‘core’ service under the agreement, encompassing labor and delivery as part of comprehensive care for pregnant women,” the ruling states. “Simply put, while the delivery of the baby is an essential component, it is not the sole care provided to a pregnant woman.”
Fosston officials, including the town’s mayor, were involved in the arbitration because the city has a legal connection to the nonprofit owner of the medical center, which historically was a municipal hospital.
Star Tribune
Judge gives driver year in jail for being drunk, fatally hitting man in Minnesota street
A driver was given a year in jail Wednesday for being drunk when he fatally hit a man in the street near St. Cloud.
Tyler J. Nies, 26, of Sartell, Minn., was sentenced in Benton County District Court after pleading guilty to criminal vehicular homicide in connection with the crash shortly before 11 p.m. on July 28 in Sauk Rapids near the intersection of N. Benton Drive and N. 8th Street that killed Kevin D. Oehmen, 47, of Sauk Rapids.
Judge Robert Raupp opted for the year in jail while setting aside a 5¾-year term. Raupp also ordered Nies to serve 10 years’ probation, perform 80 hours of community work service, complete a chemical assessment attend a victim impact panel, abstain from mood-altering chemicals and stay away from bars.
According to the criminal complaint:
An officer at the scene noticed that Nies smelled of alcohol. Nies initially said he had one beer before driving his pickup. A preliminary breath test by the officer measured Nies’ blood alcohol content at 0.129%, more than 1 1⁄2 times the legal limit in Minnesota.
Upon further questioning, Nies said that before driving he drank three beers, which were about 16 ounces each.
Nies told police he was heading north on Benton Drive in the right-hand lane and suddenly saw a man walking in the grassy area next to the curb “like he was going to cross the road,” the complaint read. Police Chief Perry Beise added that Oehmen was on a street with no marked crosswalk.
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