Wally the Beer Man: Buyer said he was 21

Walter "Wally the Beer Man" McNeil said on the witness stand Friday that although he didn't ask for identification from the underage man to whom he sold a beer last fall, the man said he was 21.

His testimony in Hennepin County District Court conflicted with that of the undercover beer buyer whose purchase from McNeil at Target Field got the popular 76-year-old beer vendor suspended from his job and charged with a gross misdemeanor.

Anthony Pasquale, 19, who worked for Minneapolis police on an alcohol compliance check, testified that McNeil didn't ask his age or request identification when accommodating Pasquale's request for a beer.

McNeil and seven others were charged in the Sept. 30 sting. They included McNeil's co-defendant, vendor Ed Stepnick, 52. Both pleaded not guilty, rejected a plea deal and went to trial. Both claim police entrapped them. Testimony wrapped up Friday when Stepnick and McNeil took the stand, and closing arguments were scheduled for Monday morning.

McNeil said he was working the concourse before the game when about 10 people approached, wanting beers. Pasquale was last, and McNeil thought he was with the group.

"I said, 'Everybody here is over 21?' And everyone said yes, including him," McNeil said.

"No mistake, what did he say?" asked McNeil's attorney, Peter Wold.

"Yes. Y-E-S." McNeil replied.

Pasquale, who was under police supervision, testified that the scene on the concourse was "chaotic" when he approached McNeil, who was chatting with and serving beers to two men and a woman who knew him.

"As they were receiving their change, I said, 'I would like one, as well,' " Pasquale testified. "He said it would be $7."

"I recalled asking if we were gonna win tonight, and he said, 'Most certainly' we would," said Pasquale.

Stepnick, a 23-year veteran vendor, said he was surprised when a police officer pulled him from the concourse that night and accused him of selling to a minor.

"She gave me her ID," he said of the person to whom he sold a beer. " ... I don't remember the birthdate exactly, but when I looked at it, I figured she was 21."

Both men said they'd never intentionally sold to a minor. McNeil testified that Pasquale looked older that September evening than he did on the stand Friday. Assistant City Attorney Judd Gushwa asked whether he would card Pasquale today.

"Today he wouldn't be there because everyone is looking for him," McNeil said. "But I would have carded him today, yes."

Prominent Twin Cities attorney Joe Friedberg testified as a character witness for McNeil. The two have known each other about 20 years because they both own racehorses at Canterbury Park.

Friedberg called McNeil "as honest as anybody I've ever met."

Abby Simons • 612-673-4921