An attorney representing Willie Navy objected Thursday to a plea agreement for one of the suspects in Navy’s Feb. 6 beating.
The suspect, Travis Arnold Campbell, 29, Pequot Lakes, appeared in front of Judge Earl Maus in Crow Wing County District Court Thursday afternoon on charges of felony first-degree assault, felony third-degree assault, gross misdemeanor fourth-degree assault motivated by bias and felony probation violation stemming from a previous conviction.
Campbell and another man, Lucas Eastwood, 27, Backus, are accused of attacking Willie Navy after the three left a downtown Brainerd bar in the early morning hours of Feb. 6. Court documents allege the men beat Willie Navy, who suffered traumatic facial injuries, in part because of the color of his skin.
A plea agreement between Campbell’s public defender, Mark Mitchell, and the Crow Wing County Attorney’s office stipulated that Campbell would plead guilty to felony first-degree assault to 12 months jail and up to 20 years on supervised probation, with no credit for time already served in jail. Campbell has been in the Crow Wing County Jail since Feb. 6.
Other conditions of his plea included a minimum fine, no contact with Willie Navy, no use or purchase of intoxicants and to remain law abiding.
Assistant County Attorney David Hermerding represented the state Thursday, filling in fellow Assistant County Attorney Bruce Alderman.
Willie Navy, his brother Pastor Robert Navy, and Willie Navy’s attorney, Steven Lastovich, also attended Thursday’s hearing.
Robert Navy earlier said his brother is recovering physically though one eye is still unable to focus straight ahead.
“He’s doing pretty good, with the grace of God,” Robert Navy said Wednesday.
Lastovich, addressing the court Thursday, told Maus that the plea agreement was not about what the state wanted but about Willie Navy. He said the court needed to be aware of the “filthy, lying statement” Campbell gave as part of the plea agreement.
Maus responded that while he could give a statement to the court, Lastovich needed to be civil.
“We don’t have theatrics here,” Maus said.
Lastovich called the case an offense to the entire community, to which Mitchell replied that Lastovich probably had a civil suit pending in the matter. Lastovich said he didn’t.
Hermerding asked that the matter be reset to allow Alderman to be present. Responding to a statement from Lastovich, Hermerding also said Navy had been consulted on the plea agreement. Lastovich said Navy was consulted at the last minute.
Lastovich again said Campbell hadn’t been truthful and urged Maus not to accept the plea agreement. He also presented to Maus a statement and photograph, which Maus said would be sealed until the time a plea is entered.
“Mr. Navy just wants the right to be heard,” Lastovich said.
“And I’m not denying him the right to be heard but it’s going to be done according to the law,” Maus replied.
Maus reset the hearing to 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
Eastwood is scheduled to appear at a hearing at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, and a jury trial is set for 9 a.m. on Wednesday.
MATT ERICKSON may be reached at matt.erickson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5857.
Comments (10)
Add commentjustice
someday we might get judges who really want justice,not the easy way out! victims do not count in the current legal circus!
Insult to the victim !!!
From everything we have heard publicly about this crime, it sounded like this was a hate crime. Why has it not been prosecuted as such? The proposed plea agreement is, in my opinion, an insult to the victim and an insult to the community. Although I can't say I am surprised. I wonder how the community would feel if a couple non-white people had done this to a white person?
Truth in that too !
Nope not new to the area at all. Lived in Brainerd since 1985.
You are absolutely accurate that sometimes it is more popular or politically correct to report or focus on one type of incident than another. Look at the recent incident at the Wisconsin State Fair. It appears to have been, according to what information we have, racially motivated but no way is it being prosecuted as such. Suppose I might be politically incorrect by even thinking that could be the case.
My opinion is that if individuals target someone because based on race, then it is a hate crime regardless of the color of the perps or the victim.
So, I was just wondering why, if the reports we had read that Mr. Navy was targeted because of his race were true, why has this not been pursued as a hate crime?
merlyn
It is true that the reports have shown it to be a hate crime, but that is just to sell papers. How much circulation do you think this paper would produce if they just said someone got a beating coming out of a bar? None! But throw in a few inflammatory words, and boom, circulation goes up. The thing is we don't know what is goin on behind the scenes. I am quite sure that Willie didn't ask to be beaten up, nor put in the hospital, but just like Mr. Straus-Kahn, let us wait for the truth before we jump on the bandwagon and convict people!
Hate crime
Does MN have a "hate crime" statute?
If so, it doesn't look as if they were specifically charged with one.