Judge Dismisses Grand Jury Indictment

A Waseca County judge has dismissed the charge of criminal vehicular homicide/gross negligence against a Northfield man involved in a fatal crash last July.

Judge Larry Collins dismissed a Rice County grand jury’s indictment against Michael Wayne Moreland, the driver of a vehicle that struck Kimberly Motzko while she was walking her dogs along 80th Street in Webster Township the morning of July 26.

Motzko later died at Hennepin County Medical Center.

In a 14-page order issued May 3, Collins wrote that he dismissed the indictment against Moreland because prosecutors:

• Did not adequating instruct the grand jury in the case.
• Did not fully correct an inaccurate definition of gross negligence given to the grand jury.
• Did not provide the grand jury with instructions on other crimes upon a grand juror’s express request.

A copy of Collins’ order is attached to this news post.

Rice County Attorney Paul Beaumaster, one of the prosecutors, disputed Collins’ findings in an interview with the Faribault Daily News.

Beaumaster has five days to decide whether to appeal Collins’ decision.

Moreland’s attorneys, David Hvistendahl and Mary Hahn, issued a press release on Monday—titled “Grand Jury Indictment for Vehicular Homicide Dismissed for Prosecutorial Misconduct”—to announce Collins’ decision.

"From day one it seemed like the grand jury was not given all the tools it needed to make a fair decision," Hvistendahl told the Faribault Daily News on Monday. "The case had a stench to it from the beginning.... We felt they tried to sandbag the grand jury."

A copy of the press release is attached to this news post.