Jury to Weigh In on Man Accused of Plotting to Kill Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom
While in the Minnesota Correctional Facility—Faribault, John Stephen Woodward allegedly masterminded a plot to murder Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom.
A Rice County jury is expected to begin considering the case today against an Inver Grove Heights man charged with plotting to murder Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom in 2010. John Stephen Woodward, 49, was originally charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit premeditated first-degree murder. Authorities say he made arrangements with another inmate at the state prison in Faribault to murder not just Backstrom, but also Dakota County District Judge Rex Stacey, who presided over Woodward’s trial on felony drug charges. Woodward is also on trial on a charge of conspiracy to commit first-degree assault resulting in great bodily harm. Prosecutors say he intended to have someone use a baseball bat to break the arms and legs of a …
