Saint Paul, mine. – A former Minnesota state senator loaded with Trying to request a minor for prostitution and accused of trying to obstruct the investigation of the FBI of the prison can be released to an average house waiting for trial, a judge ruled on Wednesday.
The judge magistrate of the United States, Shannon Elkins, ruled that Justin Eichorn, a Republican, does not represent a risk to the community and that there were reasonable explanations for the actions that federal prosecutors argued justifying to keep it in jail. But she ruled that there were enough evidence to take the case to the trial. He did not enter a plea on Wednesday.
Grand Rapid’s 40 -year player was arrested in Bloomington on March 17 after exchanging text messages with an undercover officer who passed through a 17 -year -old girl And organize a meeting for sex for money, they say the loading documents. He was accused of Incentive attempt of a minor to participate in prostitution, a serious crime that entails a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years, and resigned from the Senate on March 20.
On Sunday, federal prosecutors moved to avoid their scheduled release to Tuesday’s middle house. They leveled the detailed accusations that he tried to organize by telephone from jail for a “close and known associate”, identified by prosecutors as individuals A, to recover a computer and other articles in St. Paul’s apartment where he lived only during the legislative sessions. They argued that she could have hidden and destroyed evidence in the apartment.
Defensor lawyer Charles Hawkins revealed in the Court on Wednesday that individual A is Eichorn’s wife. He suggested through his interrogation of an FBI agent leading the investigation that she needed the computer because it contains records related to its apartment rental business, not to destroy evidence.
Eichorns have four children. His wife requested divorce on Monday.
When she arrived in her department on Friday morning, the FBI agents were already there. They declined their request to recover a computer that said it was used for their business. A few moments after he left, an agent called her and asked her to return for an interview. She refused.
During their search for the apartment, the agents found a bag at the counter containing $ 1,000 in cash; a 9 mm gun and ammunition; a laptop; a computer memory card; an iPhone; and several of the presentation cards of the Senate of Eichorn. They said that the iPhone seemed to have restored its factory configuration, which can erase the entire content on the device.
The special FBI agent, Matthew Vogel, admitted on Wednesday that the phone seemed to have been restarted on February 28, long before Eichorn began communicating with undercover officers, but said they were still studying it.
Vogel also acknowledged that the defense had provided a password for the computer. He said the agents had been able to access some information, but that they were still working to unlock some encrypted data.
Federal prosecutors Daniel Bobier argued that Eichorn lied when he told a services officer prior to trial that he had no firearms in his apartment.
But Hawkins argued that Eichorn misunderstood the officer due to the noise in the waiting area. He argued that Eichorn had the weapon because he was receiving threats for co -matocinating a bill that would have designated “Trump Disorder Syndrome” Like a mental illness.
Hawkins declined more comments after the audience, except to say he was planning to personally drive Eichorn to half of the house in Duluth.
Governor Tim Walz called on Tuesday a special election for Tuesday, April 29 to fill the empty seat, on time to sit down to a new senator during the last weeks of the legislative session. The primary will be on Tuesday, April 15. The district, which extends from Brainerd to Grand Rapids in northern Minnesota, is largely republican. Regardless of the result, Senate Democrats will continue to celebrate a narrow majority.
