Star Tribune
Man pleads guilty to killing two people in crash while racing his sister
A Burnsville man pleaded guilty Tuesday to two counts of third-degree murder in connection with a fatal crash in April 2021, when he hit and killed two people while street racing his sister.
Leon Bond, now 19, was 17 at the time of the crash and was charged as a juvenile. He will face a Jan. 23 hearing and will receive a stayed, more serious adult sentence that will not be enforced unless he violates the terms of his juvenile disposition.
The two killed were 22-year-olds Dalton Lee Ford of Burnsville and Tayler Nicole Garza of Woodbury.
According to the criminal complaint against Bond’s 20-year-old sister, Camille Dennis-Bond:
Bond was traveling east on Country Road 42 in Burnsville the morning of April 4, 2021, between Burnsville Parkway and Newton Avenue in a white Chrysler 200. He was racing side-by-side with a Chevy Malibu driven by Dennis-Bond.
Ford, driving west on County Road 42 in a Honda CR-V, pulled into the left turn lane to cross over to Newton Avenue, with Garza in the front passenger seat. Bond T-boned Ford’s vehicle, causing it to split in half. Ford and Garza died at the scene. Bond’s sister did not strike the Honda.
Both Bond and a twin sister who was in his passenger seat were taken to the hospital with significant injuries. The twin’s injuries included fractures and she underwent surgeries and a six-week hospitalization.
A State Patrol analysis of the crash concluded that Bond’s vehicle was traveling between 93 and 100 mph at the time of impact, and was touching 114 mph five seconds before the crash. The speed limit on that stretch is 50 mph.
Bond told law enforcement that he and his older sister were at a stoplight before the crash, where he told her he wanted to see whose car could get to 50 mph the fastest. He added that he saw the Honda before it turned, and that he accelerated to try and get around it but was unsuccessful.
The Dakota County Attorney’s Office sought to try Bond in adult court but was denied.
A jury found Dennis-Bond guilty Dec. 14. She was convicted on two counts of third-degree murder, two counts of vehicular homicide, one count of criminal vehicular operation resulting in great bodily harm, and one count of careless driving. She is set to be sentenced March 24.
Reporter Paul Walsh contributed to this article.
Star Tribune
Mary Moriarty vows to retry Cody Fohrenkam whose conviction for murdering Deshaun Hill was overturned
The appeals court ruled that at least some of that evidence was wrongfully used to convict Fohrenkam.
Walker, the attorney representing Hill’s family, said that although it’s disappointing that the family must sit through another trial, the ruling is “what makes America, America.”
“I understand where the judge is coming from,” Walker said. “It’s one of those cases that upsets people — people getting out on this, that and the other, on ‘technicalities,’ but they’re not technicalities, it’s the law.”
Star Tribune
Eagan parents of college runner who died by suicide settles suit with her coach and school
The Eagan parents of a college runner who died by suicide has settled their lawsuit that alleged their daughter’s cross-country coach at the time tormented her with demeaning comments in emails and texts about her weight and learning challenges.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Florida in June 2023 by Ray and Lynne Pernsteiner, the parents of Julia Pernsteiner, 23, who died in her Jacksonville University dorm room on Nov. 8, 2021. Her death came two months after the coach kicked her off the team, the suit contended.
The lawsuit named as defendants the university and former cross-country coach Ronald E. Grigg Jr., who coached women’s track and cross-country at the Division I school from 1998 until his sudden resignation in July.
The family’s attorney, Robert Spohrer, said that the case went to mediation, and there was “an amicable resolution of all issues” that led to the suit’s dismissal.
Spohrer said a strict confidentiality agreement among the parties prevented him from disclosing terms of the settlement.
Attorneys for Grigg and the university did not respond to messages left by the Star Tribune.
Messages were left Thursday with the law firms representing the school and Grigg. The defendants have yet to file any response in federal court to the allegations. The university said in a statement that it does not comment on pending litigation.
The suit contended that Pernsteiner’s constitutional rights were violated under the Americans with Disabilities Act and under Title IX because of discriminatory acts based on her gender.
The state Republican Party and conservative legal groups filed a petition with the Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday claiming that Hennepin County did not appoint partisan election judges in the right way.
The party and two conservative groups, the Upper Midwest Law Center and the Minnesota Voters Alliance, want to know how Hennepin County appointed election judges to its absentee ballot board this year. The board’s work includes making sure signatures on absentee ballots match signatures on voter registration cards and deciding if a ballot is spoiled or not.
The central question of the lawsuit, according to Andy Cilek, executive director of the Minnesota Voters Alliance, is whether county elections officials have to exhaust lists of potential election judges provided by the political parties before selecting others for the absentee ballot boards, which are required to have a balance of Republican and Democratic election judges.
“We want to understand how this occurred,” said Minnesota Republican Party Chair David Hann.
The suit alleges no one from a list of 1,500 Republicans supplied by the state Republican party to the Secretary of State’s office were selected by Hennepin County. Hann said he did not know if any Republicans were selected to serve.
Ryan Wilson of the Upper Midwest Law Center said the group has not scrutinized lists of election judges in other counties to make sure they included names provided by the state Republican Party. Wilson said his group is focusing on Hennepin County because it has the most voters, and the most potential to have an impact, he said.
In a statement, Daniel Rogan, Hennepin County auditor, said absentee ballot board members were appointed in compliance with state law and guidance from the Secretary of State.
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