A St. Paul man convicted Tuesday of sex trafficking has been charged in Ramsey County with spitting on the prosecutor after a courtroom outburst following the reading of the jury verdict.
Johnathan B. Edwards, 25, and Kauser M. Yusuf, 22, were found guilty Tuesday in Ramsey County District Court of first-degree sex trafficking after being charged with making a 15-year-old girl have sex with as many as 20 men a day. According to the new charge — fourth-degree assault — filed Wednesday, Edwards and Yusuf stood as Ramsey District Judge Joy Bartscher read guilty verdicts against both defendants. At that point, according to the complaint:
"Yusuf began to wail and collapsed onto the floor. Edwards yelled, 'Bitch!', gathered saliva in his mouth, and spat on [prosecutor Karen Kugler]. Edwards' saliva struck [Kugler's] head, face and neck. Edwards turned toward deputies who immediately tackled him atop of the table in the courtroom. Deputies took Edwards into custody."
According to the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office, Edwards has four prior felony convictions in addition to his sex-trafficking conviction — for theft, drug possession, selling marijuana and domestic assault by strangulation.
Edwards and Yusuf are scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 27 on the sex-trafficking conviction. If convicted of the spitting charge, Edwards faces up to another two years in prison and a $4,000 fine.
