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Duluth man pleads guilty to criminal sexual conduct with girls

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DULUTH – With freshly selected jurors waiting nearby for the start of an expected days-long trial, a Duluth man facing criminal sexual conduct charges took a last-minute plea deal instead of facing the women he abused when they were children.

Clint Franklin Massie, 49, pleaded guilty Wednesday morning at the St. Louis County Courthouse to the four counts from incidents dating back to 2008-09 when two of his victims were young girls. The deal dismissed one of the counts against him. His sentencing is scheduled for March 20, and he could end up with more than nine years in prison. Massie, who was initially charged in February 2023 and has been out on $300,000 bail, was released until his sentencing.

In each case, the victim was known to Massie — whether they were related or through their shared membership at Old Apostolic Lutheran Church. He was friends with their parents and regarded as a fun, child-free uncle, according to reports from the investigation.

Assistant St. Louis County Attorney Michael Ryan told the court that the victims were satisfied with the deal.

“They have been involved in talking this through,” he said to Judge Dale Harris.

After Massie pleaded guilty, would-be witnesses and their supporters filed into the courtroom filling rows. Massie, dressed in a dark suit coat and khaki pants, turned to look. Ryan questioned him on the victims’ accusations — four specific scenarios where he had touched girls: during a sleepover at his house, when alone on a tractor, or beneath a blanket while others were in the room.

Massie said in court there were a lot of big gatherings and shared meals within this the group. It wasn’t unusual for one of the many children to sit on his lap.

At times Massie paused and said he couldn’t remember exact details or motives. At other times he deferred to what he told investigating officers last year. In each instance he ultimately agreed with the scenario presented by the prosecution.



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Duluth attempted homicide case to be reviewed by Minnesota Supreme Court

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The Minnesota Supreme Court will review a 2020 Duluth attempted murder case that, earlier this year, the state Court of Appeals set for a retrial.

In a Nov. 19 filing, Chief Justice Natalie E. Hudson agreed to take up a petition from the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, which had argued the appellate court’s decision this summer to order a retrial in the attempted homicide case had impeded prosecutors in other jurisdictions from proceeding with criminal cases.

In February 2023, a Duluth jury convicted Jordan resident Seneca Steeprock, now 43, of first-degree attempted murder for participating in an ambush against 20-year-old Cameron Maurice Jones in a central Duluth apartment.

However, a three-judge Appeals Court panel ruled in July that Judge Leslie Beiers, who’d presided over the case, had erred when allowing the prosecution to obtain a sample of Steeprock’s DNA by court order, rather than through a search warrant.

“[T]he constitutional error in admitting the DNA evidence at Steeprock’s jury trial was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt,” Judge Diane Bratvold wrote.

Authorities said Steeprock and Alexia Gah Gi Gay Mary Cutbank entered the room where Jones was staying and shot him eight times. Police recovered over a dozen casings.

Cutbank later pleaded guilty to attempted murder. At the time of her plea, Cutbank was already serving a 20-year federal sentence for murder on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in August 2019.



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A 27-year-old woman, who was not wearing her seatbelt, was killed on Friday after head-on car crash with a boom truck in Otter Tail County

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A 27-year-old Fergus Falls woman died Friday afternoon after colliding with a boom truck just outside Ottertail, Minn., in Otter Tail County.

The woman, traveling southbound in a 2004 GMC Envoy, was not wearing a seatbelt when she hit a boom truck, which was traveling northbound, on Highway 78, the Minnesota State Patrol said. The truck’s driver, 23-year-old Henry Francis Gibbs, of Battle Lake, was injured but not taken to a hospital.

A crash report notes that the road was wet. Deputies from the Otter Tail County Sheriff’s Department, as well as local fire and rescue and Perham ambulance, responded to the incident.

The woman’s identity will be disclosed by law enforcement later on Saturday.

A 55-year-old woman from Sebeka died in a crash in Otter Tail County just over a week ago. On Thursday, two Pelican Rapids residents were hurt after a head-on collision in the county, as well.



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Why Minnesota is projected to face a future budget deficit, and what lawmakers might do about it

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Minnesota had a record surplus two years ago. Now, it’s projecting a deficit on the horizon. How did the state get here?



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