Star Tribune
Nicholas Firkus sentenced to life in prison for wife’s 2010 shooting death
Nicholas Firkus, the St. Paul man who claimed his wife was fatally shot during a home invasion nearly 13 years ago, was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for her murder.
The sentence, handed down by Judge Leonardo Castro, came after a Ramsey County jury found Firkus guilty of first-degree premeditated murder and second-degree murder with intent in connection with Heidi Firkus’ death on April 25, 2010.
“I maintain to my dying breath my innocence of this crime,” Firkus said in front of a full courtroom in the Ramsey County Courthouse before his sentence was read. Though he was convicted of his wife’s murder, he said, “it does not diminish the grief I feel from losing her.”
Firkus, 40, showed little emotion as he was sentenced. He has been held in the Ramsey County jail since February, when he was convicted after a two-week trial that included testimony from nearly 50 witnesses. Firkus has not formally appealed, but his life sentence could be reviewed by the Minnesota Supreme Court, a court spokesman said.
Prosecutors argued that Firkus killed his wife out of shame and fear stemming from financial problems. They said he had not told her about $18,000 in credit card debt and a foreclosure on their Hamline-Midway home.
Defense attorneys countered that Heidi’s death was a tragic accident. They said a shotgun Nicholas had in his hand went off as he struggled with an intruder just inside the front door of the couple’s home on W. Minnehaha Avenue. One shot struck Heidi in the back of the head. The second hit Nicholas in the leg, his lawyers said.
Before the sentencing Thursday, Firkus claimed he had not received a fair trial. But Castro said Firkus was represented by “the most skilled defense lawyers in the state,” adding, “I’m sure you received a fair trial.”
“There are no winners here,” Castro continued. “Many lives were left in pain as a result.”
In the years after Heidi’s death, Nicholas Firkus remarried and had three children. Many who gave victim impact statements Thursday lamented that Heidi, 25, never got to realize her dream of having children of her own.
“She looked forward to being a mother” and wanted to cut back to part-time work to focus on that, said Heidi’s mother, Linda Erickson, as she held back tears. “She was robbed. We have had to live with a false public narrative of what happened, a narrative concealing the truth. There is a definite relief of having the record set straight.”
Erickson called Heidi “a joyful child of God” who liked camping, biking and hiking and was filled with humor and a loving spirit. Others remembered Heidi for her beautiful voice, charismatic personality and infectious laugh.
Christa Gibbs, who had known Heidi since they met in nursery school, said she has experienced fear, pain and sadness since her friend’s death.
“I no longer have the ability to look at others without suspicion,” she said.
The case baffled police for more than a decade and had gone cold until 2019, when a St. Paul Police Department sergeant reopened it. With help from the FBI and new evidence, Firkus was charged in 2021.
Joel Howells, who met Firkus after Heidi’s death, on Thursday described his friend as a “loving human being” who put others first. He said he believes Firkus is innocent.
Firkus’ father, Steve, does, too.
“To the depth of my heart, I know he did not commit this crime,” Steve Firkus said. “It is impossible Nick could have done what he is accused of doing. We continue pray justice can still be done, and that the truth of what happened will finally emerge.”
Defense attorney Joe Friedberg argued at trial that prosecutors had not provided direct evidence that Firkus fired the fatal shot. He said the couple’s financial problems were not a motive for murder because if Firkus killed his wife, everything would become public.
“He told me his story and I believed it,” Friedberg said in court Thursday. “He is a wonderful and sincere human being. There is not a better man you are going to sentence than Nick Firkus.”
The Lynx are in the hot seat.
The team lost Game 3 of the WNBA Finals series against the New York Liberty on Wednesday night 77-80, setting the stage for a decisive match at Target Center on Friday night. Fans in the arena reacted with resounding disappointment after Sabrina Ionescu sunk a three-pointer to break away from the tie game and dashed the Lynx’s chance at forcing overtime.
Before we get to the reactions, first things first: The Lynx set an attendance record, filling Target Center with 19,521 spectators for the first time in franchise history. That’s nearly 500 more than when Caitlin Clark was in town with the Indiana Fever earlier this year.
Despite leading by double digits for much of the game, the Lynx began the fourth quarter with a one-point lead over the Liberty and struggled to stay more than two or three points ahead throughout.
The Liberty took the lead with minutes to go in the fourth quarter and folks were practically despondent.
Of course, there were people who were in it solely for the spectacle. Nothing more.
The Lynx took a commanding lead early in the first quarter and ended the first half in winning position, setting a particularly jovial mood among the fanbase to start the game.
Inside Target Center, arena announcers spent a few minutes before the game harassing Lynx fans — and Liberty fans — who had not yet donned the complementary T-shirts draped over every seat.
DULUTH – The Minnesota and Wisconsin transportation departments will make upgrades to the Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge in the summer of 2025, in preparation for the structure to become the premiere route between this city and Superior during reconstruction of the Blatnik Bridge.
Built in 1961, the Blatnik Bridge carries 33,000 vehicles per day along Interstate 535 and Hwy. 53. It will be entirely rebuilt, starting in 2027, with the help of $1 billion in federal funding announced earlier this year. MnDOT and WisDOT are splitting the remaining costs of the project, about $4 million each.
According to MnDOT, projects on the Bong Bridge will include spot painting, concrete surface repairs to the bridge abutments, concrete sealer on the deck, replacing rubber strip seal membranes on the main span’s joints and replacing light poles on the bridge and its points of entry. It’s expected to take two months, transportation officials said during a recent meeting at the Superior Public Library.
During this time there will be occasional lane closures, detours at the off-ramps, and for about three weeks the sidewalk path alongside the bridge will be closed.
The Bong Bridge, which crosses the St. Louis River, opened to traffic in 1985 and is the lesser-used of the two bridges. Officials said they want to keep maintenance to a minimum on the span during the Blatnik project, which is expected to take four years.
Red Wing will celebrate the grand opening of its first permanent set of pickleball courts next week with an “inaugural play” on the six courts at Colvill Park on the banks of the Mississippi, between a couple of marinas and next to the aquatic center.
Among the first to get to play on the new courts will be David Anderson, who brought pickleball to the local YMCA in 2008, before the nationwide pickleball craze took hold, and Denny Yecke, at 92 the oldest pickleball player in Red Wing.
The inaugural play begins at 11 a.m. Tuesday, with a rain date of the next day. Afterward will be food and celebration at the Colvill Park Courtyard building.
Tim Sletten, the city’s former police chief, discovered America’s fastest-growing sport a decade ago after he retired. With fellow members of the Red Wing Pickleball Group, he’d play indoors at the local YMCA or outdoors at a local school, on courts made for other sports. But they didn’t have a permanent place, so they approached the city about building one.
When a city feasibility study came up with a high cost, about $350,000, Sletten’s group got together to raise money.
The courts are even opening ahead of schedule, originally set for 2025.
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