Friday, June 29, 2012
English justices decided that Shawn Sullivan could only be returned to the U.S. if the Dakota and Hennepin County attorneys agreed to forego indefinite civil commitment as a penalty—which the British courts view as a violation of Sullivan's human rights.
Follow us on Twitter | Like us on Facebook | Sign up for our daily newsletter After almost 20 years, justice is no closer for the alleged victims of Shawn Sullivan, a man accused raping a 14-year-old girl in the 1990s and molesting two others. Last week, a British High Court refused to extradite Sullivan—who holds both U.S. and Irish citizenship—unless prosecuting attorneys waived the possibility of enrolling Sullivan in Minnesota's civil commitment program. London High Court Justices Alan Moses and David Eady said they would have extradited Sullivan, now 43, were it not for Minnesota's "draconian" sex offender program, according to an Associated Press report published in the Washington Post. Sullivan is charged with rape—two counts of …
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Volunteers with the nationwide assisted-suicide network, accused of helping an Apple Valley woman kill herself in 2007, have been charged with similar crimes in other states.
Doreen Dunn had been in “unbearable, excruciating, chronic pain” for more than a decade when she decided five years ago to take her own life. The 57-year-old Apple Valley woman sought help from the Final Exit Network, an organization that describes its mission as helping “mentally competent adults” who suffer from fatal or incurable illnesses or “intractable pain” to die with dignity, according to its website. In May 2007, Dunn placed a device called a “helium hood”—a plastic bag attached to a helium tank—over her head to end her life. She allegedly was in the presence of at least two volunteers from the Final Exit Network at the time. The non-profit Final Exit Network and four of its members were indicted Friday by a Dakota County grand …
Friday, February 17, 2012
Dakota County Attorney Jim Backstrom said the number of juvenile crimes prosecuted in Burnsville dropped from 206 in 2010 to 179 last year.
Juvenile crime in Eagan and in Dakota Countyappears to be on the decline, according to Dakota County Attorney Jim Backstrom. The total number of juvenile offenders charged with crimes in Dakota County decreased by almost 8 percent last year, dropping from 1,445 in 2010 to 1,334 in 2011. “It is a good sign that the number of youth charged with a crime in our community continues to drop,” Backstrom said in a new release issue earlier this week. Dakota County also experienced a decrease in the number of juveniles charged with felony-level charges. In 2010, 203 juveniles were charged with felonies. In 2011, 192 were charged. This is a drastic drop in felony charges from 2001, where 420 juveniles were charged. This is the ninth consecutive …
Thursday, March 31, 2011
If convicted, Michelle Rose Chlan, 26, will likely face no more than seven years behind bars
If convicted of all three charges of third degree criminal sexual conduct, Michelle Rose Chlan, 26, will face just five to seven years behind bars, Dakota County Attorney James C. Backstrom told Patch today. Chlan was charged yesterday on three counts of having a sexual encounter with a 16-year-old male student of the Shakopee school at which she taught. According to the criminal complaint, Chlan performed oral sex on the student on three separate occasions between June 2009 and July 2010. Minnesota statute 609.344 states clearly that the maximum penalty for each infraction on which Chlan was charged is 10 years' imprisonment and/or a $30,000 fine. Backstrom explained that Minnesota sentencing guidelines dictate the penalty for this …
