The manslaughter trial of a Washington County deputy is scheduled to begin March 9, District Judge Mary Yunker announced Monday.
The deputy, Brian Krook, attended the brief hearing at the Washington County Courthouse but did not speak.
Krook, of Somerset Township, Wis., pleaded not guilty in July to a second-degree manslaughter charge in the 2018 fatal shooting of a Lake Elmo man, 23-year-old Benjamin W. Evans.
Evans was shot at an intersection near his home after authorities responded to a call of a suicidal man with a gun.
The case against Krook has not yet been publicly released, and Yunker on Monday said she understood that attorneys were still discussing the evidence. Krook's attorney, Kevin Short, responded that the prosecution shared new details of their case just last week and that he needed more time to prepare.
Yunker, a Sherburne County district judge assigned to the case, granted the delay and continued the hearing until Dec. 9. She gave Short and the prosecuting attorneys instructions to have all motions filed at least two weeks ahead of time.
Short didn't describe the evidence other than to characterize it as substantial.
Krook is the state's third law enforcement officer in recent memory to be charged in an on-duty killing. St. Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez was charged with second-degree manslaughter and acquitted by a jury in the July 2016 killing of Philando Castile, and former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor was charged and convicted of third-degree murder in the July 2017 shooting of Justine Ruszczyk Damond.
