Judge to rule this week on whether Yanez case will be moved

Defense attorneys for St. Anthony Police officer Jeronimo Yanez argued Tuesday that his trial should be moved away from Ramsey County, suggesting jurors here would be intimidated and afraid to issue a not-guilty verdict because it might lead to "homes being burned."

Yanez is facing manslaughter and two felony firearms charges in the death of Philando Castile, an African-American driver, during a traffic stop in the St. Paul suburb of Falcon Heights last July. His attorneys said at a hearing Tuesday that Yanez would likely not get a fair trial in Ramsey County — and that trying the case in the same county where Castile was killed could lead to riots and protests.

Defense attorney Earl Gray handed several newspaper clippings to Judge William H. Leary III before arguing that media coverage about the case has been prejudicial and slanted against his client. Yanez's attorneys have requested that the trial be moved to Brainerd, St. Cloud, Hastings or Duluth.

Leary said the law requires jury questioning so both sides are able to determine if jurors are capable of setting aside their own personal views when assessing charges. With social media and technology today, he said it's difficult to conclude that residents outside the Twin Cities would be unfamiliar with the case.

But Gray cited a survey by Craig Holm, a former law enforcement officer and a private investigator who went to Duluth and Brainerd to ask residents there about the case. According to his research, 10 percent have heard of it, but 90 percent did not recall.

"A far cry from having been saturated by newspapers," Gray said. "As soon as you go outstate, nobody really pays attention to what happens in the Twin Cities."

Prosecutor Clayton Robinson disagreed. He said the question isn't whether they'll be able to find anyone who's impartial, it's whether potential jurors will be able to set aside personal beliefs.

"Who cares what someone in Brainerd has heard about it," he said. "We live in a society where you snap your finger and you can find anything you want."

Since Yanez was charged in November, there have been two pre-trial hearings open to the public. Leary noted that no hearings or motions filed so far in the case have attracted any protesters. The trial is scheduled to begin May 30.

"Have you seen any protesters? You haven't," prosecutor Robinson added. "What makes you think that there will be protests when the trial starts?"

Gray continued to argue with the intimidation factor, while Judge Leary pushed against that argument, agreeing with the prosecution that it's conjecture and surmise, and that there hasn't been any evidence of that type of behavior throughout the proceedings so far.

"All members of the community have done nothing but display appropriate conduct," Leary said.

Leary said he will issue an order on the request to move the trial by the end of the week.

He denied only one motion immediately after Tuesday's arguments: The defense team's request to try Yanez separately on the firearms charges. His attorneys argued it would be too confusing for a jury to consider both firearms and manslaughter charges, but the judge disagreed.

Leary has not issued orders on two other key points: The defense team's motion to dismiss the manslaughter charge, in which they argued it violates Yanez's rights to due process.

He also didn't rule on defense attorneys' motion to exclude use-of-force expert Jeffrey Noble from participating in the trial. Ramsey County prosecutors consulted with Noble before charging Yanez. After reviewing all the evidence in the case, Noble concluded in a 66-page report that the officer's actions were not reasonable.

But defense attorneys argue that Noble came to that conclusion only with 20-20 hindsight, and should have only determined whether Yanez was acting reasonably in the moment he pulled the trigger.

"If our expert is excluded, should their experts be excluded too?" federal prosecutor Jeff Paulsen, who has been called in to assist Ramsey County attorneys in the case, countered.

Both sides did agree that they would exchange additional evidence as part of the proceedings leading up to the trial.

Defense attorneys withdrew their motion to suppress a statement Yanez gave to the BCA the day after the shooting, which means it will be now be admitted as evidence.

Yanez has pleaded not guilty to the charges. He is still on paid administrative leave from the St. Anthony Police Department.

Correction (April 4, 2017): An earlier version of this story misidentified attorney Clayton Robinson's role in the case. Robinson works in the Ramsey County Attorney's Office. The story has been updated.