Rochester police have now classified beating death of a Somali man as a bias crime.
Adam Brandrup and Joshua Lee are each charged with second-degree unintentional murder in the death of 42-year-old Muhidin Mumin. He was found beaten to death in a downtown Rochester alley Oct. 1.
Olmsted County Attorney Mark Ostrem says the bias determination won't result in any changes to the murder charges filed against the two 25-year-old Rochester men. But police are required to report bias crimes to the state.
The victim's family and Somalis in Rochester have contended from the start that it was a hate crime. The suspects are white.
This is the eighth offense this year that Rochester police have reported to the state as a bias crime. Six of them involved racial bias.
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