Little Canada man gets workhouse sentence for fatal shove

A month ago, he had beaten murder charges. But when Michael Merten III stepped before a Ramsey County District judge Tuesday, he still had cause to worry.

Convicted of manslaughter for pushing Robert Hilgren, 47, into oncoming traffic during a confrontation in the middle of Little Canada's Rice Street in August, Merten faced a possible prison sentence of more than seven years.

But, in an unusual twist, District Judge William Leary sentenced Merten to just one year in the Ramsey County correctional facility, plus seven years' probation, after offering in unsparing detail a portrayal of Hilgren and his son, Preston Hilgren, as aggressors in the conflict.

Robert Hilgren, Leary said, was a "bad drunk" who had committed multiple acts of domestic violence, and both father and son were "brawlers."

Merten and Preston Hilgren tangled that night, but by the time Robert Hilgren sought to intervene, any threat posed to his son had passed, the judge said.

"Mr. Hilgren had no need to go into Rice Street," Leary said.

With credit for time served, Merten, 41, could be in the workhouse for just four months, said his attorney, Bruce Rivers, who argued all along that Merten acted in self-defense.

"The judge was very fair," she said. "I was praying for the truth to come out."

Hilgren's family declined to comment after the sentencing — as did Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Rachel Kraker, who had prosecuted the case and argued Tuesday for a so-called "guidelines sentence" of 86 months in prison.

Earlier, Kraker told the judge that while Merten didn't intend to push Hilgren into a vehicle's path when the two faced off on Rice Street about 9:10 p.m. on Aug. 20, it was a "forceful push," and that Merten should be held responsible for Hilgren's death.

"That is the danger of unchecked anger or violence," she said.

As for the victim, Robert Hilgren was a "flawed individual," Kraker acknowledged. "But he was loved by so many in his life."

According to trial testimony, Hilgren had been drinking with his wife, son and friends in a Little Canada trailer park on Rice Street just north of County Road B2 when the younger Hilgren and Merten became engaged in a conflict.

Soon, Robert Hilgren was part of the fracas, too, and after Merten ran into the middle of Rice Street, the elder Hilgren followed. Witnesses testified that the two bumped chests, and that Merten pushed Hilgren into the path of an SUV. One witness said it appeared as if Robert Hilgren was about to punch Merten when he was shoved, but Loralei Hilgren and a motorist testified that it appeared as if Merten had timed his push.

In his description of the events, Leary noted that Merten was in the trailer park minding his own business when Preston Hilgren walked by him after getting into a disagreement and said, "What's up, bro?" That gave way to the son and later the father directing taunts at Merten, and Merten having his shirt ripped off before he ran onto Rice Street, Rivers said.

At the time, both father and son were under court orders to refrain from using drugs or alcohol.

Robert Hilgren also had just served time for a felony domestic assault incident during which he punched his son repeatedly and struck his wife and slashed her tires, Leary said.

Now, Leary told Merten, he hopes he uses his time in the workhouse to change his life.