Twin Cities man on trial for rape disappears, is convicted while on the run

A Twin Cities rape defendant disappeared from his trial just as he was about to be cross-examined, and the jury went ahead and convicted him on all counts without him there.

David Powers, 37, of New Auburn, Minn., was found guilty Tuesday in Washington County District Court of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, kidnapping and domestic assault by strangulation in connection with him keeping a woman captive for more than 24 hours in her Lake Elmo apartment.

The verdicts from the jurors came with the defendant not there to hear the result of the five-day trial in connection with his crimes in May 2023 at the home in the 9500 block of Hudson Boulevard.

Powers had testified Friday, but when the trial resumed Monday, he failed to return for cross-examination by prosecutor Scott Haldeman. Haldeman then asked the court for an arrest warrant for Powers.

Defense attorney Bruce Rivers told the court he did not know Powers’ whereabouts, and the arrest warrant was issued.

“Powers will be arrested and brought back to court, and I plan to ask for a significant upward departure from the presumptive sentence under the Minnesota sentencing guidelines,” County Attorney Kevin Magnuson said in a statement issued late Tuesday afternoon.

The maximum sentences Powers could face are 30 years for first-degree criminal sexual conduct, 40 years for kidnapping and three years for domestic assault by strangulation.

As of Wednesday morning, Powers has yet to be found, a spokeswoman for the county attorney and Rivers said.

“I have no idea where he is,” Rivers told the Minnesota Star Tribune. “I’ve been a lawyer for 27 years, and I’ve never had a case where I finished a trial without my client sitting next to me.”

Rivers noted that Powers, who is also known as David Robekevich, has dual U.S.-Russian citizenship but had his passport confiscated by law enforcement when he was arrested.

“My guess is he’s trying to find his way back to Russia,” the attorney said.

Rivers said that Powers “did pretty well” when he testified, and “I thought he was going to hold up on cross-examination.”

On Monday, Rivers recalled, Powers said he had cut his hand and went from one hospital to another.

“I told the court that, and we delayed on his promise to appear,” Rivers said.

But at 11:30 a.m., Judge Helen Brosnahan issued the arrest warrant.

The judge then exercised her discretion and threw out Powers’ testimony, and with no more witnesses, both sides gave their closing arguments.

According to the criminal complaint:

Sheriff’s deputies were called to the apartment just before 9 a.m. on May 2, 2023, on a request for a welfare check after the woman failed to report for work.

Deputies arrived and saw the woman screaming for help while frantically trying to open an upper-level window. A man appeared behind her and pulled her back.

The deputies forced their way into the residence and arrested Powers. The deputies saw the woman had significant injuries to her neck, a forearm and hands.

She told them that Powers had been staying with her for a few weeks. After they attended a sporting event together the previous evening, she left Powers at her apartment in the midst of an argument and stayed with friends in an neighboring city.

When she returned early the next morning, she said, Powers physically assaulted her for three hours. Throughout the attack, he threatened to kill her and destroyed many of her belongings.

The woman told deputies she tried to escape but that Powers restrained her and kept her from getting to her cellphone or keys.

Magnuson’s statement Tuesday said that “we know how difficult it is for victims to come forward, testify in a public courtroom, and relive these horrible events. We are grateful for the victim’s courage in testifying.”