ROCHESTER – The defense for Shane Roper, the former state trooper charged for his role in a crash that killed Owatonna teenager Olivia Flores, has asked the court to dismiss eight of the nine charges against him.
Fired trooper Shane Roper asks court to dismiss eight of nine charges against him
Attorneys for the former Minnesota state trooper are also asking for the trial to be moved outside Olmsted County, citing extensive media coverage of the case.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
October 28, 2024 at 8:44PM
In a motion filed Oct. 24, Roper’s attorneys said the state has “failed to meet its burden of offering direct evidence tending to demonstrate that [Roper’s] actions, or negligence, were the proximate cause of death or bodily harm.”
Roper, 32, faces nine criminal charges related to the May 18 crash, including felony charges of second-degree manslaughter and criminal vehicular homicide. Both charges carry maximum sentences of 10 years in jail.
The only charge the defense did not ask to have dismissed is a misdemeanor for careless driving, which carries a maximum sentence of 90 days in jail.
Among the other requests made to the court, Roper’s defense asked for a change of venue outside of Olmsted County, citing the extensive media coverage of the case. The defense said “jury pools have surely been tainted and a fair trial cannot be had” in the county.
Roper’s attorney, Eric Nelson of Halberg Criminal Defense, also argued that any evidence related to Roper’s prior speeding or traffic incidents should be precluded as evidence in the case.
In the five years leading up to the crash, Roper had been disciplined by the State Patrol on four separate occasions for careless or reckless driving, including a February 2019 crash that injured another officer.
District Judge Christa Daily has not responded to the motions. Roper is scheduled to be back in court Nov. 21 for a pretrial settlement conference.
Roper was fired from the patrol in early September after an internal investigation found there was “no justification” for the way he was driving when he crashed his patrol car into another vehicle occupied by Flores, 18, and two others at SW. Memorial Parkway and SW. 12th Street in Rochester. Flores died the next day of blunt-force injuries. Five others were seriously injured in the three-car wreck.
An investigation by the Rochester Police Department found that Roper had been traveling at speeds of up to 83 mph without his emergency signals activated in the lead up to the crash. The patrol called Roper’s driving “reckless” and said his conduct “seriously undermined his integrity and trustworthiness with the public.”
The investigation also revealed that Roper had engaged in high-speed driving multiple times earlier the same day, at one point reaching 135 mph without his lights or sirens on. A 20-year-old man participating in a ride-along with Roper said the trooper told him the driving was “normal behavior for him.”
Roper has pleaded not guilty to all nine criminal charges. A trial has been scheduled for late March 2025.
Passenger volume at Rochester International Airport is down nearly 50% since the start of the pandemic as travelers migrate to MSP for cheaper flights without layovers.
