Star Tribune
Suspect charged in murder on St. Paul’s West Side
A suspect in last month’s shooting death of 23-year-old David Lashawn Isaac on St. Paul’s West Side has been arrested and charged.
Justice Glaspie, 20, was charged with second-degree murder Friday by the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office, a day after his arrest in West St. Paul.
Isaac, whose funeral was earlier this week, was found shot to death behind a home on St. Paul’s West Side on Oct. 23. It was the 29th homicide in St. Paul this year, according to a Star Tribune database. That compares with 31 by that time last year.
According to charging documents:
Investigators reviewed Isaac’s posts to Snapchat and confirmed that he was on the West Side of St. Paul the evening of his death to film a video. Glaspie was identified as one of the men in the video, and later surveillance footage captured the two walking with a group through a parking lot. The group started to play fight with each other. Isaac and Glaspie got up after their scuffle brought them to the ground, and Glaspie was seen walking away with a limp. Still, authorities who reviewed the video said, “There appeared to be no lingering resentment or hard feelings.”
The last footage of Isaac cuts away after Glaspie jumps at his back and spins him around at 10:16 p.m. in the same parking lot where his body was found. Three members of the group were filmed getting into a vehicle on Concord Street minutes later.
Police interviewed a member from that group, who said he didn’t know of any fights or issues between the others. When asked what happened, he paused and needed time to compose himself.
“He just shot him, man,” he said, adding that Glaspie told the group to shut up before they were picked up by his girlfriend, according to charging documents.
When Glaspie was interviewed, he denied being at the scene of the shooting and said he didn’t know Isaac. That alibi changed when investigators showed video footage of Glaspie holding what appeared to be a gun.
Glaspie then said that he did it, documents state, claiming that Isaac tried to rob him at gunpoint two months ago.
After the play fight, Glaspie said he grabbed Isaac by the shoulder and spun him around with a gun in hand, according to charges. He planned to rob him, but he said Isaac tried to grab the weapon.
Jennifer Rainer, Isaac’s aunt, described her nephew as an exquisite person who would smile through his own pain in order to help others around him. Memories of a young Isaac playing the video game Guitar Hero with his grandmother or bringing in worms from outside helped Rainer laugh amid tears.
“You’re OK when your loved ones have gotten old and you understand and you know that eventually one day you’re going to have to say goodbye,” said Rainer, who noted her nephew was more like a son to her. “This one we don’t understand.”
“He was always so happy and his smile was so contagious, and we will never see that smile again,” Rainer said. “And it hurts so bad because we just want to know why. They just don’t know what they took from us.”
Glaspie was arraigned in court Friday afternoon. His next hearing is scheduled for Nov. 28 at 9 a.m. Bail is set at $1 million.
Star Tribune
Speaker Mike Johnson says Republicans are “ready to deliver” on Trump’s agenda
And while Johnson predicts next year will launch the ”most consequential” presidency and Congress in modern times, he has had difficulty this year leading Republicans who refused to go along with plans, forcing the speaker to often partner with Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Johnson’s troubles stem in part from his slim majority, but that could persist if Trump continues to tap House Republicans to fill his administration. Trump has already asked Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., to be ambassador to the United Nations and Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., to be his national security adviser.
”We’re pretty much maxed out,” said Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas. ”Everybody understands that.”
In the weeks ahead, Congress faces another deadline, Dec. 20, to fund the federal government or risk a shutdown, and conservatives are redoubling their pressure on Johnson not to cave on their demands to slash spending.
The House and Senate also will consider replenishing the Disaster Relief Fund to help provide aid in the aftermath of Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
And with President Joe Biden preparing to exit and Democrats relinquishing their hold on the Senate, there will be pressure to confirm more judicial nominees and to usher out the door any other bills that could possibly become law before Trump takes over.
Star Tribune
Judge set to rule on whether to scrap Trump’s conviction in hush money case
The lawyer, Michael Cohen, fronted the money. He later recouped it through a series of payments that Trump’s company logged as legal expenses. Trump, by then in the White House, signed most of the checks himself.
Prosecutors said the designation was meant to cloak the true purpose of the payments and help cover up a broader effort to keep voters from hearing unflattering claims about the Republican during his first campaign.
Trump said that Cohen was legitimately paid for legal services, and that Daniels’ story was suppressed to avoid embarrassing Trump’s family, not to influence the electorate.
Trump was a private citizen — campaigning for president, but neither elected nor sworn in — when Cohen paid Daniels in October 2016. He was president when Cohen was reimbursed, and Cohen testified that they discussed the repayment arrangement in the Oval Office.
Trump has been fighting for months to overturn the verdict and could now seek to leverage his status as president-elect. Although he was tried as a private citizen, his forthcoming return to the White House could propel a court to step in and avoid the unprecedented spectacle of sentencing a former and future president.
While urging Merchan to nix the conviction, Trump also has been trying to move the case to federal court. Before the election, a federal judge repeatedly said no to the move, but Trump has appealed.
Star Tribune
Hubbard County Attorney Jonathan Frieden, 43, dies of cancer
Bob Small, the executive director of the Minnesota County Attorney Association, said in a statement that the state’s county attorney community “is in deep mourning upon learning of the passing of Hubbard County Attorney Jonathan Frieden.”
“He was a member of our Association since 2008, first as an Assistant County Attorney and then as the Hubbard County Attorney since 2017. He will be remembered as a good man who cared deeply about his family, his colleagues and the people of Hubbard County. His shared interest with his fellow County Attorneys in seeing that justice is done will be greatly missed.”
Frieden is preceded in death by his parents. In addition to wife, twin and daughters, he is survived by siblings Andi Gulley, Michelle Frieden, Liz James, Daniel Frieden, and Isaac Frieden, as well as 18 nieces and nephews.
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