A judge acquitted a 37-year-old man of threatening to harm St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter and Maplewood Mall and concluded that the defendant’s intention was to buy the shopping center and run for mayor.
Man acquitted of threatening violence against St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, Maplewood Mall
Judge finds he didn’t want to harm either but wanted to buy the mall and run for mayor.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
October 25, 2024 at 2:47PM
Andrew Thomas Grzywinski of St. Paul was found not guilty late Thursday afternoon by Ramsey County District Judge John Guthmann on two counts of threats of violence.
The suspicion took root when Grzywinski sent a former girlfriend a text on Dec. 27, 2022, showing an assault-style gun on a window ledge, with a message that read, “Maplewood Mall is my idea, and Mayor of St. Paul is an end goal,” according to the charges filed in December 2022.
The woman alerted Woodbury police because Grzywinski was staying at a hotel in that city. A Woodbury police investigator said Grzywinski had been hospitalized Dec. 15-22, 2022, in Pensacola, Fla., “on a mental health hold,” the charges read, and a doctor there said Grzywinski’s threats should be taken seriously.
Woodbury police then notified their counterparts in Maplewood and St. Paul, leading to his arrest and charges. He spent nearly a month in jail before his release on bond.
In returning his verdicts in writing, Guthmann said, “The text message does not state or imply a threat to commit an act of violence. There is nothing expressly or impliedly threatening about the words ‘Maplewood is my idea,’ and the existence of a gun in the background of a panorama photo of a hotel room containing many other objects does not reasonably change the character of those words.”
The judge continued, “To conclude that defendant’s text was intended as an express or implied threat to the Maplewood Mall or anyone inside is entirely speculative and without support in the evidence.”
Guthmann’s filing noted that Grzywinski, who owns his own heating and cooling business, was not mulling or making any threats against the mall or the mayor but had been telling various people close to him that he wanted to buy the mall and run for mayor.
“After nearly two years of anguish,” defense attorney Charles Ramsay said Friday, “Mr. Grzywinski is finally vindicated. He can now look his friends, family and community in the eye and say the allegations were baseless. His intentions were always tied to his business interests and ambitions to run for mayor of St. Paul, as he had previously discussed with others.”
The County Attorney’s Office has been asked for its reaction to the acquittals.
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