Star Tribune
Onamia man gets 24 years in federal prison after assaulting girlfriend with unserialized gun
A federal judge this week imposed a 24-year prison sentence on a northern Minnesota man convicted of illegally possessing a firearm during a domestic assault, after pleas from prosecutors to send a message that Native American victims would be taken seriously.
Justin Lyle Cutbank, 37, was arrested in November 2020 after reports that he assaulted his girlfriend with a short-barreled rifle with her two children present before fleeing into the woods.
Leech Lake Tribal Police arrested Cutbank after hours of negotiations while he was barricaded in a neighbor’s garage. Cutbank bit an officer in the face and neck, and grabbed the grip of an officer’s rifle before he was subdued and taken into custody.
Police searching the wooded area where Cutbank fled found a Marlin Model 100 .22 caliber rifle with no serial number, a knife and a cellphone belonging to his girlfriend the next day. Smith has at least five felony convictions dating back to 2006 – including multiple assault convictions, burglary and robbery – all of which bar him from possessing a firearm. Law enforcement used DNA evidence to trace the firearm to Cutbank.
Mark Nyvold, Cutbank’s attorney, declined to comment on his client’s sentencing, delivered Tuesday by Senior U.S. District Judge Michael Davis.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Bradley Endicott called for a 30-year sentence in the case, citing violence against American Indian women as a “pervasive legal problem and human rights abuse.”
Cutbank was convicted by a federal jury in a March 2023 trial in which one witness told jurors that “Where we come from, we don’t call the police.”
“American Indian women, like other vulnerable populations, face unique challenges that contribute to their susceptibility to violence. Violence against Native American women is often underreported due to a variety of factors, including distrust of the legal system,” Endicott wrote in a memo making his case for Cutbank’s sentence. “Implementing a strong sentence will assure survivors that their cases will be taken seriously.”
Transforming the heart of both downtowns, which have much larger buildings than old warehouses, is going to take a lot more money, creativity and time. Josh Talberg, managing director at downtown Minneapolis brokerage JLL, said with no major apartment buildings on the drawing board in either downtown, the fleet of empty office buildings present a golden opportunity to create more housing and lead both cities in a new direction.
“You can can certainly see the fundamentals improving, and you can feel that vibrancy, and that’s ultimately the foundation that’s needed to get investors to reinvest in the city,” he said. “But it’s not as if these 18-wheelers can turn on a dime.”
The Minnesota Department of Transportation closed part of a state highway Wednesday evening near Austin because of a “major hazardous materials release” in the area.
Hwy. 56 from Hayfield to Waltham, a stretch covering about five miles, was closed in both directions and drivers were directed to follow a detour to Blooming Prairie on U.S. Hwy. 218.
No information on the hazardous materials released was immediately available.
A federal judge dismissed a civil lawsuit against Minnesota state trooper Ryan Londregan in the shooting death of Ricky Cobb II during a 2023 traffic stop.
The decision is the latest development in a case that has drawn heated debate over excessive use of force by law enforcement. Criminal charges against Londregan were dismissed by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty in June, saying the prosecution didn’t have the evidence to proceed with a case.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Nancy E. Brasel granted Londregan’s motion to dismiss the civil suit, arguing he acted reasonably when he opened fire as Cobb’s vehicle lurched forward with another state trooper partly inside.
Londregan’s attorney Chris Madelsaid Wednesday that it’s been a “long, grueling journey to justice. Ryan Londregan has finally arrived.”
On July 31, 2023, the two troopers pulled over Cobb, 33, on Interstate 94 in north Minneapolis for driving without taillights and later learned he was wanted for violating a felony domestic no-contact order. Cobb refused commands to exit the car.
With Seide partly inside the car while trying to unbuckle Cobb’s seatbelt, the car moved forward. Londregan then opened fire, hitting Cobb twice.
In her decision, Brasel said the troopers were mandated by state law to make an arrest given Cobb’s domestic no-contact order violation. She said it was objectively reasonable for Londregan to believe Seide was in immediate danger as the car moved forward on a busy highway, which would make his use of force reasonable.
