Minn. jail mixup allows suspect to beat informant
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Hennepin County jailers are defending their actions after an informant was beaten earlier this year after being placed in the same cell as the homicide suspect he had implicated.
The informant was beaten for several minutes before jailers stopped the March 4 attack.
Sheriff's spokeswoman Lisa Kiava says the instructions to keep the two apart should have come from the prosecutor's office. She says that didn't happen.
Rondah Kinchlow of the Hennepin County attorney's office says prosecutors "always" notify the jail in such cases.
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The Pioneer Press says the suspect is 24-year-old Jonathan Nicholas "Thirsty" Turner. He was charged Thursday with tampering with a witness.
Turner told investigators he tried not to attack the informant "but he betrayed me."
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Information from: St. Paul Pioneer Press
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
