Star Tribune
Man currently in prison for a shooting is sentenced for attacking St. Paul mail carrier
A man has received a federal prison term of nearly six years for attacking and seriously injuring a mail carrier in St. Paul who chastised him for not yielding in his car at an intersection.
Kevin D. Blocker, 27, was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul to 5 2⁄3 years in prison and three years of supervision after his release after he pleaded guilty to assaulting a federal employee in October 2018.
Later that year, Blocker was charged in connection with a shooting in Moorhead that left one person wounded. He was convicted of drive-by shooting and second-degree assault and is currently in Stillwater prison until April 2026. Once he leaves prison, his federal sentence kicks in, said defense attorney Kevin Gregorius.
“In my opinion, the sentence was way too short,” the now-retired mail carrier, Terry Hopponen, said Wednesday, “He should be in there for life because it was possibly life-threatening.”
Hopponen, who delivered mail for the Postal Service for 25 years until May 2021, said he was back on the job within seven days of being assaulted.
“I didn’t see anything coming,” he recalled. “I woke up as the St. Paul Fire Department EMTs were putting me on a stretcher and into the ambulance. I don’t know what I was hit with, but it put a nice gash in my head.”
Blocker’s defense argued in a pre-sentence filing for its client to receive a five-year term, pointing out that “he has availed himself of significant programming and rehabilitative efforts” while in prison.
Prosecutors pushed for a six-year prison sentence, noting that he has four convictions on his record in Minnesota involving violent assaults and his saying that he merely “slapped” Hopponen.
“Together with the brutality of his attack, [Blocker’s] tepid remorse justifies a sentence of 72 months’ imprisonment after he is released from state custody,” the prosecution’s counter-filing read.
According to court records:
Hopponen was crossing at the intersection of Front Avenue and Oxford Street, where Blocker was driving his car at a speed that made Hopponen concerned he might not stop. Blocker did stop, then honked at Hopponen.
The mail carrier said he stopped in front of the car and said, “You need to yield to me,” one court filing quoted him as saying. Later on the route, Hopponen was assaulted.
A nearby resident told a grand jury that he saw Blocker, at 240 pounds, get out of his car and punch the much smaller Hopponen in the face. The blow caused the mail carrier to collapse and hit his head on the pavement.
Concerned that a witness took down his license plate, Blocker attempted to conceal his crime and filed a false stolen-vehicle report. He then sold the car to a man who soon got picked up by police based on the car being listed as stolen.
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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