In what he said was a first in his eight years on the bench, a Hennepin County judge rejected a plea deal — in this case a carjacker and repeat robber who had what the judge called "too many victims" to justify a sentence of probation and a year in the workhouse.
Hennepin County judge rejects plea deal for 20-year-old charged in multiple robberies
Judge Paul Scoggin said the proposed sentence for Dorian Flowers was too lenient.
October 12, 2023 at 10:00PM
District Judge Paul Scoggin said in court Wednesday that he could not agree to the Hennepin County Attorney's proposed sentence for Dorian Flowers, 20, in exchange for guilty pleas in some of the nearly 20 charges against him. Scoggin considered the number of victims and seriousness of the offenses, but he also said the court is concerned with the number of downward departures, especially when a presentence investigation recommended that Flowers should serve prison time.
It's extremely uncommon for judges to reject pleas, and it's another setback for County Attorney Mary Moriarty, who since taking office at the beginning of the year has faced repeated criticism for efforts to enact sentencing reforms she ran on.
Scoggin was a prosecutor for the office before appointed to the bench in 2015 by then-Gov. Mark Dayton.
"For the first time in my career," Scoggin said, "I am rejecting the negotiation and ordering these matters on for trial."
His reasoning included "too many victims," "repeated alleged activity," and that probation would "deprecate the seriousness of the offenses here."
Flowers was the alleged accomplice of James Jones-Drain, 20, who was accused of fleeing then-Minneapolis police officer Brian Cummings in a stolen vehicle in July 2021. Cummings crashed into and killed an innocent driver, Leneal Frazier, in the high-speed pursuit through north Minneapolis.
"The agreement here called for a full year in jail and five years of supervised probation with the potential for five years in prison if Mr. Flowers failed on probation," said Moriarty's spokesman, Nick Kimball. Moriarty declined an interview request.
Kimball added: "Given his lack of criminal history prior to these incidents, his age, and the severity of the conduct, our prosecutors felt this was a reasonable way to resolve these cases."
In a surprise move this summer, prosecutors dropped related charges against Jones-Drain a month after Cummings was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to probation and nine months in the workhouse.
Flowers and Jones-Drain were accused of committing a string of 15 robberies that led to the pursuit and fatal crash. The crime spree prompted the pursuit.
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Cummings' defense attorney, Thomas Plunkett, said the former officer remains in the workhouse for a few more weeks.
"It is offensive. Mr. Cummings sits in jail, suffers a 10-year revocation of his driver's license, and has a felony record for doing his job," Plunkett said. "While these urchins get cookies and ice cream for sentences from that office."
Kimball said in his statement that "Mr. Plunkett impugns the many good men and women in law enforcement who act and drive responsibly with respect for the safety of our community members by claiming Mr. Cummings' conduct was anything less than criminal."
In his 30 years of criminal defense, Plunkett said, he can count on one hand the number of times he saw a judge reject a negotiation.
Flowers has 10 open felony cases in Hennepin County. In one case, he is charged in a July 3, 2021, carjacking in the Target parking lot on E. Lake Street. Flowers and Jones-Drain were allegedly caught on surveillance running after a woman and stealing her car keys and new Kia Sportage.
"In the following days, [Flowers] and [Jones-Drain] were observed robbing several businesses using victim's Kia as a getaway vehicle," charges state.
Jones-Drain was sentenced last week to serve five years in prison for illegal gun possession and robbery. Charges related to the Kia theft and fleeing police were dropped.
The proposed negotiation for Flowers was for him to plead guilty to the car theft while a second theft charge would be dropped. In another case where he is charged with seven counts of simple robbery, one count would be dropped. He's accused of robbing a market, White Castle, CVS and Subway restaurant over two days that summer. Cashiers were assaulted each time.
Eight other felony theft and robbery cases would be dropped with the plea deal.
Flowers, who is not in custody, will be back in court Oct. 24 for a pre-trial hearing.
His public defender did not respond to messages Thursday.
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