Jury acquits northern Minnesota man who fled scene of friend’s death

A Cook dinner County jury apparently understood why Rodney Ernest left the scene of a crash that killed his buddy within the distant woods alongside Minnesota’s North Shore.

“He was in the midst of nowhere. There is not any cellphone protection,” mentioned Samuel Edmunds, one in all two attorneys who defended Ernest in a six-day trial ending this week.

The accident occurred so deep within the woods, Edmunds added, that there have been no houses or companies inside miles and little hope of assist from a passing motorist.

“That wasn’t exhausting for the jury to grasp. We had a Cook dinner County jury. They perceive this stuff,” he mentioned.

The jury took solely two hours to seek out the 37-year-old Ernest not responsible of three counts of vehicular murder. Along with leaving the scene, he was charged with murder for being drunk and for driving recklessly within the crash that killed his buddy, Invoice Evans Jr. of Litchfield, Minn.

It was a tall order for Edmunds and his co-counsel, Dea Cortney — particularly as a result of Ernest had led police on a 40-minute chase early on the morning of Nov. 7, 2020, earlier than shedding them on grime roads within the woods close to the border of Cook dinner and Lake counties. However Edmunds mentioned Ernest was capable of supply explanations for all his actions that had been convincing to the jury.

Ernest, a industrial logging truck operator, admitted he’d had a couple of beers on the Lounge in Silver Bay, Minn. When a sheriff’s deputy tried to drag him over on U.S. Hwy. 61, he panicked, despite the fact that he wasn’t drunk, Edmunds mentioned.

Underneath Minnesota regulation, a industrial driver can lose his license if he is discovered to have a blood alcohol content material of .04% or greater — half the extent for a traditional driver. However that is solely whereas really driving a industrial automobile, Edmunds mentioned. Ernest did not understand that and was frightened that, whereas not drunk, he might exceed that restrict, Edmunds mentioned.

“He informed the jury he is aware of he made a mistake [in fleeing the officer],” Edmunds mentioned.

Testimony from the bartender who served Ernest, together with different patrons, satisfied the jury that no person thought Ernest appeared drunk. And a blood alcohol check taken hours after the accident confirmed zero alcohol, Edmunds mentioned.

A state accident reconstructionist submitted a report estimating that Ernest was driving between 50 and 60 mph on the time of the crash, however later revised it to a variety of 41 to 50 mph. As a result of the velocity restrict the place the crash came about was 55 mph, Edmunds mentioned, the jury concluded that Ernest wasn’t driving recklessly.

After the crash, along with his buddy mendacity unconscious or useless, Ernest determined his solely probability was to stroll for assist. He set out and coated greater than 6 miles earlier than an early-morning hunter picked him up, Edmunds mentioned. The hunter took Ernest to the house of a buddy in Finland, Minn., the place he referred to as his spouse and informed her to telephone 911.

Edmunds mentioned his shopper is “a great upstanding man and did not do what they alleged. I believe the jury was satisfied that this was only a fluke accident. It is a tragic state of affairs.”