Courts/Legal

Jeremy Plonski, a former Minnesota state trooper and National Guard member, pleaded guilty in federal court to producing and distributing child pornography after investigators say he made and shared video(s) showing sexual abuse of an infant. The federal plea was filed this week; separate Scott County charges for first‑degree criminal sexual conduct related to the same alleged video remain pending. Authorities including the FBI and state law‑enforcement leaders have described the allegations as horrifying and say the case remains under active review ahead of sentencing and state proceedings.

Ramsey County has agreed to pay $100,000 to a former detainee of the county’s Juvenile Detention Center, the Twin Cities–area news outlet reported on Oct. 7, 2025. The payment was announced by county officials (or reported by the paper) and concerns a former juvenile held at the Ramsey County facility; the action raises questions about the county’s handling of the underlying claim and potential oversight or policy implications.

A St. Paul bar customer, 33-year-old Melvin A. Martinez Altamirano of Madison, Wisconsin, has died after suffering a devastating brain bleed following a punch by 28-year-old security guard Jose Eucario Conejo Marquez of North St. Paul, with surveillance video showing Marquez step between the couple and strike Altamirano in the parking lot as pepper spray was deployed. Marquez was arrested Sunday night, remains in custody at the Ramsey County Jail, and has been formally charged with one count of first-degree manslaughter.

A St. Paul man was sentenced to 10 years in prison after driving about 100 mph and causing a deadly crash off Interstate 94 in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities news site reported on Oct. 3, 2025. The sentencing resolves a criminal case tied to a fatal motor-vehicle collision that occurred on the I-94 corridor in Minneapolis and is being reported as a matter of public safety and legal accountability.

Roseville parents Aisha Ali, 30, and Hanad Hassan Jama, 35, were charged with manslaughter after their 15-month-old daughter fell from a two-story apartment balcony on July 6, 2025, and died the following day. Police and a criminal complaint say property management warned the couple in 2024 after seeing children hanging from the balcony, and investigators found a torn screen door and a partially open sliding door at the Lexington Avenue North apartment building.

Minneapolis man Robert Warren, 51, has been charged in the Loring Park double homicide after surveillance footage allegedly showed him ambushing two people as they exited an apartment elevator; both victims were killed and a shotgun and shells were recovered. Hennepin County prosecutors filed two counts of second-degree murder with intent and two counts of possessing a firearm after a violent-crime conviction; Warren, who has prior felony convictions for domestic assault and third-degree assault, was arrested at the scene and is scheduled for a first court appearance on Oct. 1, 2025.