A confidential informer for the FBI was sentenced to 16 eight-hour days of physical labor and ordered to pay a $900 fine in connection with an early morning confrontation in Minnetrista in January, but he received no additional jail time from Hennepin County Judge Dan Mabley at a court hearing today.
Most unusual, however, was that the prosecutor, John Halla, never showed up for the 9 a.m. sentencing of Andrew Darst, 30, who has been considered a top FBI informer in developing a case against eight members of an anarchist organization who face trial later this year for street disruptions during the Republication National Convention in 2008.
After waiting a half hour, Mabley said that efforts to reach Halla by phone were unsuccessful and ordered the sentencing to proceed. It was not clear why Halla failed to turn up or what sentence the prosecution was seeking.
Darst was convicted in March of third-degree damage to property, a gross misdemeanor, and two counts of assault in the fifth degree. He had been arrested for breaking down a door and entering a house and assaulting two men after 2 a.m. on Jan. 11. The incident was unrelated to the RNC investigation.
Darst told police he was worried about his wife, who he said was inside the house and had been drinking. Once inside, he struck two men he encountered, inflicting a cut over the left eye of one man and hitting the other on the head.
Darst spent four days in jail before he was released in January. Patrick Flanagan, Darst's attorney, urged that Darst not be given more jail time.
Flanagan said that he was worried about his client, who he said had been followed through the skyways by supporters of the anarchist group who dislike him after previous court appearances. There were no supporters of the anarchists in the courtroom today.
Flanagan told Mabley today that he should take into consideration that Darst was concerned about his wife and that if he had had a chance, he'd have taken a different course of action. The attorney said Darst had been invited to the Minnetrista house and noted that the gross misdemeanor was based on the amount of damage he caused to the house from breaking in.
He urged that Mabley limit Darst's sentence to home monitoring and that the judge take into account what he had done to "help the government," an apparent reference to Darst's work as an informer. Flanagan also said that Darst had volunteered to do sandbagging in Fargo, N.D., which was hit by serious flooding earlier this year.
Darst then told the judge that he believed that his wife was in danger when he broke into the house.
"I realize I did it the wrong way," Darst told Mabley. "I feel horrible about the situation."
For the gross misdemeanor, Mabley imposed a sentence of 180 days in the workhouse, stayed 160 days of it, gave him credit for four days in jail, and sentenced him to 16 days of what is known as "sentence to serve," which Mabley described as 16 eight-hour days of physical labor. He also fined Darst $900.
Darst was also sentenced him to 16 days of physical labor for the two misdemeanors and fines of $300 for each offense, but said those were to be served concurrently, so there will not be an additional fine or physical labor.
Joseph Daly, a professor of law at Hamline University, said he believed that Mabley's sentence was "pretty lenient" because what Darst did was was "extremely dangerous" in going into a house and assaulting people, even though the assaults were misdemeanors.
"Normally, he would have gotten some time in jail beyond the four days," said Daly. "This guy got off pretty light. If I was his lawyer, I would send him a big bill."
Daly also said it was unusual that the prosecutor did not show up for the hearing, which Daly said he has never experienced in the cases where he has been the defense attorney.
Daly predicted that if Darst testifies in the case of the RNC anarchists, the defense will try to get evidence of his conviction and sentence before the jury. He said there was a possibility the defense might not get the Minnetrista case admitted, but if it did, defense lawyers would use it to question Darst's veracity and suggest he was exaggerating because he got a special deal from the prosecution in the Minnetrista case.
Daly said the defense also would likely note that the prosecutor did not show up for the sentencing.
Darst had no comment after the hearing. Flanagan said, "We appreciate the judge's evaluation of the case and the decision he handed down." He said that while he was unfamiliar with the RNC case, the Minnetrista case would have nothing to do with Darst's credibility or truthfulness in the prosecution of the anarchists.
FBI informant sentenced to 16 days of labor and $900 fine A witness against anarchists who wanted to disrupt the Republican National Committee gets a "sentence to serve" in an unrelated case |