One agent testified at trial that the case involved, at the time, “the largest seizure of methamphetamine in the history of the Minnesota River Valley Drug Task Force,” which worked the case alongside the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and Shakopee Police Department.

Daniel Gerdts, an attorney representing Rodriguez Pineda, maintained ahead of sentencing that his client agreed to help a Mexican cartel distribute meth while under “explicit” threats to his and his family’s safety. He could not walk away from the operation nor report it to Minnesota law enforcement because police here “could not protect his wife and children in Michoacán once his deception was detected by his oppressor in Mexico,” Gerdts wrote in a memo ahead of sentencing.

“The threat essentially constituted a loaded gun put to the head of his wife and children in Mexico,” Gerdts wrote. “The foreign handlers enforced his cooperation through required daily contact and by sending their enforcers to supervise him.”

Gerdts described Rodriguez Pineda’s role as that of a caretaker who minded the Shakopee residence and distributed drugs to customers. He wrote that his client “was by all accounts an unknown replacement for the original person whose task was to mind the residence and distribute the drugs to the customers.” The original caretaker’s “precipitous disappearance without warning to the organization’s customers continues to bedevil the investigators,” Gerdts added.

Coburn pointed out before sentencing that, during their deliberations, jurors did not ask any follow-up questions about Rodriguez Pineda’s testimony that he had previously been held captive for several days when he visited his hometown in Michoacan, Mexico. Coburn argued that the story was not consistent with evidence presented at trial and did not make sense.

“The defendant’s abduction story appears to be pure, unsubstantiated fabrication, and nothing about that story in any way mitigates the seriousness of his criminal conduct,” Coburn wrote. “The evidence instead demonstrates that while the defendant was present in Minnesota selling vast amounts of methamphetamine, he was having fun, even offering the informant beer during at least one of the controlled purchases, showing off his new Hummer, and partying with cocaine (which was found in his bedroom).”

Both supporters and opponents acknowledge it’s difficult to pinpoint whether ranked-choice voting changed the outcome of Bloomington races, in part because there’s not a definitive way to know who would have won the primary and competed in the general election under the old system. Of the 10 most recent Bloomington races, six were decided in the first round and four were tabulated using ranked-choice voting methods.

WASHINGTON — A disaffected electorate wanted former President Donald Trump to return to the White House, a blatant rejection of Vice President Kamala Harris and her nearly four years with President Joe Biden.

The Republican’s victory came from a public so put off by America’s trajectory that they welcomed his brash and disruptive approach. About 3 in 10 voters said they wanted total upheaval in how the country is run, according to AP VoteCast, a sweeping survey of more than 120,000 voters nationwide. Even if they weren’t looking for something that dramatic, more than half of voters overall said they wanted to see substantial change.

Both nationwide and in key battleground states, the Republican won over voters who were alarmed about the economy and prioritized more aggressive enforcement of immigration laws. Those issues largely overshadowed many voters’ focus on the future of democracy and abortion protections — key priorities for Harris’ voters, but not enough to turn the election in her favor.

Trump’s victory, however, wasn’t a total mandate. Even as Trump prevailed in the electoral college, there were concerns about how he could wield his power. Most voters said they were very or somewhat concerned that electing Trump would bring the U.S. closer to being an authoritarian country, where a single leader has unchecked power. Still, more than 1 in 10 of those voters backed him.

Voters gave Trump the edge on their top concern: the economy

Anxiety about inflation was high nationally, and voters broadly believed that Trump would be better equipped than Harris to handle the economy and jobs. The key swing states of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin largely mirrored the mood of the nation.

The share of voters who said their family’s financial situation was ”falling behind” rose to about 3 in 10, up from roughly 2 in 10 in the last presidential election. Many voters were still reeling from inflation that spiked to a four-decade high in June 2022. About 9 in 10 voters were very or somewhat concerned about the cost of groceries, and about 8 in 10 were concerned about their health care costs, their housing costs or the cost of gas.

Trump eroded Democrats’ traditional advantage among key groups