A 25-year-old woman has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor after being accused of damaging the vehicle of a lawyer for a fired Minneapolis police officer charged in the death of George Floyd.
A jury trial scheduled for Monday in Hennepin County District Court for Edith N. Okerlund, of Minneapolis, was canceled after she pleaded guilty to unlawful assembly, a misdemeanor, in connection with attorney Thomas Plunkett's allegations that demonstrators threatened him, client J. Alexander Kueng, co-defendant Thomas Lane and another defense lawyer as they left the courthouse after a hearing on Sept. 11, 2020.
In exchange for her plea, prosecutors dropped a felony count of first-degree property damage and a gross-misdemeanor third-degree riot charge.
Okerlund was sentenced to the three days she already served when she was arrested, no probation and a $78 fine.
According to the charges: Plunkett and Earl Gray, the defense attorney for former officer Lane, were walking from the Hennepin County Government Center with their clients to Plunkett's vehicle parked at a meter when they were approached by about 20 people.
Plunkett said the group surrounded his vehicle and pounded on it with a drumstick, fists and a bicycle as the lawyer and the rest of his group sat inside.
Gray said he saw someone, later identified as Okerlund, strike Plunkett's vehicle with a bicycle.
Plunkett drove from the scene, saw the damage to his vehicle and provided an estimate to police that it was in excess of $2,000.
