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The weeklong jury trial for Jonathan Hans Minor, 23, was scheduled to begin Sept. 15 but after meeting with the attorneys in private for 20 minutes, Judge Jeff Thompson “reluctantly but understandably” reset the date for Jan. 26, 2009.
Thursday’s date change was the third time this year Minor’s trial was pushed back. In May, Minor’s attorneys, Rich McCluer and J.P. Plachecki, asked to delay the trial because they hadn’t received all of the medical reports for the victim, Steven Donald Adams. They argued they needed X-rays and CT scans not included in the evidence but alluded to by other documents for expert analysis.
At the time, Assistant Winona County Attorney Tom Gort said his office didn’t have all the documents McCluer and Plachecki were requesting.
Thompson ordered those documents delivered but apparently they had only recently been received. Thompson blamed budgetary problems for the long delay.
Winona County Attorney Chuck MacLean said the trial would be a “battle of the experts” and both sides needed more time to adequately ready their arguments and responses based on expert analyses of Adams’ medical records.
Those records are at the core of the case because some charges against Minor — assault causing substantial bodily harm and assault causing great bodily harm — stem directly from the severity of the injuries Adams sustained.
Minor, formerly of Anoka, Minn., and now of West Fargo, N.D., is charged with two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault causing harm, one count of assault with a dangerous weapon and two counts of burglary.
The charges accuse Minor of stabbing Adams, an off-duty bouncer, outside Schyde’s Drinks and Whatnot after getting thrown out of the bar Feb. 7, 2006. According
to the criminal complaint, Minor and a friend came to Winona for Minor’s 21st birthday, and on the ride into town, Minor brandished a 4-inch knife and said that if anyone got in their way of having fun that night, he would “carve them up like a turkey.” After getting thrown out of the bar, Minor got into a scuffle with Adams and stabbed him five times in the back, nearly severing his own pinky during the fight, court documents show.
Minor has been free on $100,000 bond and is now set to return to Winona County District Court on Jan. 16, 2009, for a pretrial hearing.
Contact Kevin Behr at (507) 453-3524 or at kbehr@winonadailynews.com.
