A Dakota County judge ruled Friday that Brian Fitch, accused of killing Mendota Heights police officer Scott Patrick, can be prosecuted jointly by Ramsey and Dakota counties because his alleged crimes are part of a "single behavioral incident."
Fitch is charged with first-degree murder in the killing of officer Patrick, shot eight times during a routine traffic stop in West St. Paul on July 30. He is also charged with first-degree attempted murder for engaging in a shootout with police in St. Paul eight hours later.
Though charges were originally filed in their respective counties, prosecutors consolidated the cases by convening a grand jury with members from both counties. Such a move is almost unprecedented in Minnesota.
Fitch's defense argued that the joint prosecution was unconstitutional, because state law guarantees a defendant the right to a jury in the county where the crime happened.
Fitch risked being convicted of the Dakota County incident because of the Ramsey County incidents, the defense said.
Further, his attorneys said, the two situations shouldn't be viewed as part of the same behavioral pattern because of the time that elapsed between them.
But the multicounty indictment will stand, according to the ruling from Dakota County District Judge Mary J. Theisen. The alleged acts were related closely by "time, place and criminal objective," and both incidents had the same goal: "to kill police to avoid apprehension."
On Tuesday, Judge Theisen moved Fitch's trial to Stearns County after his attorneys said that the case's extensive publicity meant a fair trial wasn't possible in Dakota County.
