Former Minneapolis cop charged with sexual misconduct faces trial by judge

David Edward Campbell
David Edward Campbell
Courtesy of Hennepin County Sheriff's Office

A former Minneapolis police officer facing sexual misconduct charges decided on Tuesday to be tried by a judge and not a jury.

Prosecutors say David Campbell's victim was a 16-year-old girl who was dating his son. The criminal complaint alleges that in 2017 Campbell assaulted the girl on several occasions including while he was on duty and in uniform.

Campbell has pleaded not guilty to all seven felony charges. He is not in custody.

The trial was in its second day of jury selection when Campbell, through his defense attorney Dan Homstad, requested a trial by stipulated evidence. Not only will there be no jury seated, but there will be no in-person witness testimony. Instead, both parties agreed on the evidence to be tried by Hennepin County Judge Tamara Garcia.

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Homstad declined to discuss how this form of trial fit his defense strategy. However, he had previously made an unsuccessful motion to delay the start of the trial in order to give Campbell more time to study the evidence against him.

Earlier this year, Judge Garcia presided over the trial of another former Minneapolis police officer, Thomas Tichich, who was convicted of sexual assault and sentenced to four years in prison.

In an odd coincidence, one of the prospective jurors in the Campbell trial had a connection to the Tichich trial. The potential juror owns the house where Tichich sexually assaulted an unconscious woman. During the Tichich trial, the man — whose sister lived in the house and reported the crime — was captured on police body camera footage talking to the investigating officers.

Garcia will consider 52 exhibits, including transcribed interviews with the teenage girl, photos from inside Campbell's squad car and a series of Facebook messages. Prosecutors say some of the messages include Campbell asking the girl to send pictures of herself wearing underwear from Victoria's Secret that he allegedly bought for her.

Garcia is expected to deliver her verdicts in court Oct. 17. If convicted, Campbell faces a sentence of between three to nearly five years in prison. Minneapolis police officials say Campbell was relieved of duty without pay last year before he retired. The head of the department's union said Campbell will still receive his pension if he's convicted.