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Decision delayed for 1981 shooting suspect

April 21, 2011 at 4:29AM

Aaron W. Foster Sr. It's been almost three years since Aaron Foster was acquitted in the 1981 murder of his girlfriend. On Wednesday, he will go to court to ask that his criminal record be expunged. The family of the victim, Barbara Winn, will also be there to serve Foster with a wrongful death lawsuit. They plan to file the civil suit on Tuesday and attend the expungement hearing. Patty Bruce, Winn�s sister-in-law, said she thinks it�s important for the public to know about Foster�s history. The Ramsey County Attorney�s Office and the state Department of Human Services agree with her. An attorney for DHS submitted a letter asking the court to deny Foster�s expungement request, saying to grant the expungement �would leave our most defenseless citizens vulnerable to maltreatment.� Foster says his record should be erased because he is not a danger to the community and he has been denied employment 11 times in the last two years. (Dml -/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Aaron Foster Sr.'s request to have a 2007 murder charge expunged was taken under advisement Wednesday.

Foster was acquitted in 2008 of the charge levied against him for the 1981 shooting death of his girlfriend, Barbara Winn.

Winn's relatives had expected Ramsey County District Chief Judge Kathleen Gearin to make a ruling from the bench. But Gearin delayed her decision by giving attorneys more time to submit material to support their stance.

Foster's attorney, Earl Gray, argued that his client deserved expungement because he hasn't been arrested in 30 years. Foster needs to clear his record so he can find better work, Gray said.

Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Laura Rosenthal argued that "facts" in the county's memorandum showed that keeping the record open was in the public interest because of the seriousness of the charge.

"Where are the facts?" Gearin asked, noting that the state provided no trial transcripts or other independent documents.

Rosenthal noted that information in the memorandum came from transcripts. Gearin refused to accept those as facts.

An attorney for Winn's relatives, David Schultz, asked the judge for more time to submit transcripts and other documents.

Gearin gave Schultz two weeks to submit materials and Gray two weeks from that to respond. Schultz is representing the family in the expungement hearing. On Tuesday the family submitted a wrongful-death suit against Foster.

Winn was 35 when she died May 8, 1981, of a gunshot wound to the chest in her Maplewood townhouse. Winn and Foster had quarreled just before she was killed by a bullet from Foster's gun. Foster's trial attorney argued that Winn shot herself.

"We're fine with [Gearin's delay] because we want her to make the right decision," Patty Bruce, Winn's sister-in-law, said Wednesday.

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File photo: Patty Bruce of St. Paul holds a photo of murder victim Barbara Winn, who was Bruce's sister-in-law. (Star Tribune file photo/The Minnesota Star Tribune)