Defense and prosecution attorneys in the manslaughter case against a Washington County sheriff's deputy filed dueling motions this week over whether a Lake Elmo man's suicidal statements — including his desire to carry out "suicide by cop" — should be allowed as evidence in the case.

The motions came as both sides prepared for trial in the case of Washington County deputy Brian Krook, who was indicted on a charge of second-degree manslaughter for the April 2018 shooting of 23-year-old Benjamin Evans.

Krook, 31, shot Evans after law enforcement responded to a 911 call about a suicidal man in a Lake Elmo intersection.

Krook's attorneys filed a motion on Monday that seeks to block state witnesses from stating at trial that Krook and other officers at the scene had a duty to warn Evans that unless he dropped his weapon he would be shot. It also seeks to block the state's witnesses from testifying that Krook and other officers had an obligation to continue negotiating with Evans after they spent 40 minutes trying to persuade him to surrender peacefully.

"No state's expert should be allowed to opine that Deputy Krook had to 'refrain from firing his weapon' and instead 'shout a warning' while in harm's way," Krook's lawyers wrote.

Their motion also challenges Evans' character, saying he may have lied about a cancer diagnosis and about being wounded while serving in Afghanistan with the Marines.

"All of this was false," the motion says.

Krook's lawyers also want the court to allow evidence that Evans sent notes and texts to friends saying "that his life would end in what is commonly known as 'suicide by cop,' " that he had been drinking on the day of the shooting, and to admit a 911 tape in which two callers indicate Evans is about to commit suicide with the aid of law enforcement.

Ramsey County prosecutors, who took the case to avoid a conflict of interest in Washington County, argued that evidence critical of Evans' character should be barred at trial. They also sought to suppress his comments about suicide by cop, as well as evidence that he had been drinking alcohol.

Krook, in his grand jury statement, said he believed he was in Evans' line of fire as Evans knelt with a gun to his own head. Krook acknowledged firing at Evans four times, killing him in what his defense team said was a justified shooting.

Matt McKinney • 612-673-7329