Star Tribune
No prison for man whose drunken Lake St. crash severely injured counterculture character who later died
Case suffered numerous injuries from the crash, among them: trauma to his brain, a shattered spleen and numerous broken bones.
Judge Burns explained in his verdict filing that Nieves was not charged with criminal vehicular homicide, because “it is unclear from the record as to whether the victim died as a result of this accident or other issues. The court notes that [Nieves] is charged with criminal vehicular operation as a result of the injuries sustained by the victim, not based on his death.”
As a hippie, he fully embraced a drugs, sex and rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. His counterculture adventures and misadventures ranged from getting kicked out of the Army, painting water towers across the Midwest, riding a motorcycle across Europe, living in Copenhagen and driving across the country with a collection of old brass beds to sell in San Francisco.
After he sobered up, he even achieved a degree of respectability. His passion for going to concerts with a camera, talking his way backstage and hanging with the likes of the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead resulted in a book he co-authored and published in 2019: “When the Stones Came to Town: Rock ‘N’ Roll Photos from the 1970s.”
According to his online obituary, Case “never stopped collecting — vinyl records, vintage toys, metal signs, rock posters, you name it. Also collected were friends. Everywhere he went, Fred’s jovial nature, infectious sense of humor, and boundless font of fascinating stories drew people to him.”
Part of that focus involves hiring Transit Rider Investment Program (TRIP) agents who check fares and provide a uniformed presence on transit. Metro Transit has hired 13 people to fill 22 slotsin the third quarter. An additional 25 TRIP agents were hired from an outside security firm to bolster their ranks.
As a result, the number of fare inspections surged during the third quarter to 133,866, up from 56,149 checks the same period last year.
Officials from Metro Transit will provide more context about the numbers at a Met Council committee meeting at 4 p.m. Wednesday in St. Paul. The regional planning body operates Metro Transit.
Harris also made a more concerted effort to network with local politicians, business leaders and cultural figures, forging connections that could serve her down the road. The moment arrived sooner than she anticipated, and she was catapulted into the presidential race with Biden’s departure only a month before the Democratic National Convention.
Harris instantly reset the terms of the contest with Trump. She was 18 years younger and a former courtroom prosecutor going up against the first major presidential candidate convicted of crimes. Her candidacy energized Democrats who feared they were destined for defeat with Biden at the top of the ticket.
But she also faced steep odds from the beginning. She inherited Biden’s political operation with just 107 days until the end of the election, and she faced a restless electorate that was eager for change.
Although Harris pitched ”a new way forward,” she struggled to meaningfully differentiate herself from the unpopular sitting president. In addition, she had limited time to introduce herself to skeptical voters, who never cast a ballot for her in a presidential primary.
Democrats now face the prospect of picking up the pieces during a second Trump presidency, and it’s unclear what role Harris will play in her party’s future.
”The work of protecting America from the impacts of a Trump Presidency starts now,” wrote Jen O’malley Dillon, Harris’ campaign chair, in a letter to staff. “I know the Vice President isn’t finished in this fight, and I know the very people on this email are also going to be leaders in this collective mission.”
Star Tribune
Special counsel evaluating how to wind down two federal cases against Trump after presidential win
WASHINGTON — Special counsel Jack Smith is evaluating how to wind down the two federal cases against Donald Trump before he takes office in light of longstanding Justice Department policy that says sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted, a person familiar with the matter said Wednesday.
Smith charged Trump last year with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. But Trump’s election defeat of Kamala Harris means that the Justice Department believes he can no longer face prosecution in accordance with decades-old department legal opinions meant to shield presidents from criminal charges while in office.
The person familiar with Smith’s plans was not authorized to discuss the matter by name and spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press.
By moving to end the cases before the inauguration in January, Smith and the Justice Department would avert a potential showdown with Trump. The president-elect said as recently as last month that he would fire Smith, who was appointed in November 2022 by Attorney General Merrick Garland, ”within two seconds” of taking office.
NBC News first reported Smith’s plans.
Smith’s two cases charge Trump in a conspiracy to undo the election results in the run-up to the Capitol riot, and with retaining top secret records at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and obstructing FBI efforts to recover them.
The classified documents case has been stalled since July when a Trump-appointed judge, Aileen Cannon, dismissed it on grounds that Smith was illegally appointed. Smith has appealed to the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where the request is pending.
In the 2020 election interference case, Trump was scheduled to stand trial in March in Washington, where more than 1,000 of his supporters have been convicted of charges for their roles in the Capitol riot. But the case was halted as Trump pursued his sweeping claims of immunity from prosecution that ultimately landed before the U.S. Supreme Court.
