The contested omnibus hearing of the State of Minnesota vs. former Hastings Head Wrestling coach Josh Mc Lay took place in Hastings on Friday morning. According to information provided after the hearing by the Dakota County Attorney’s office, the general process of a contested hearing is that one attorney presents whatever they are contesting to the judge on the record. The judge then has a chance to rule and may do so at that time. It is also usual practice for briefs to be submitted, however the prosecutor, Deanna Natolli stated she did not have those prepared and requested additional time. The judge did set that for Friday, July 12th with the response by the defense set for a week later, on the 19th. The judge would then have until August 19th to decide.
Judge Wahi asked if any resolution had been accomplished prior to beginning. Both defense and prosecution agreed there is no resolution. Ms.Natolli began by informing the Judge that a member of the defense team, Hastings Attorney Shelley Rohr, presents a conflict of interest because Rohr’s husband and adult son will likely be called as material witnesses for the prosecution. Defense argued that there is no conflict as the two men are not clients of Rohr’s law firm. The judge cited protection guaranteed in the Constitution’s 6th Amendment which assures the accused the right to secure the defense of his choice. That argument was contested by the state.
The defense then made their statement which included a motion to dismiss charges 1-10, which includes 5 counts of theft and 5 of theft by swindle. A total of 16 counts were charged by Hastings Police after more than $13,000 dollars were alleged to have been misappropriated by McLay by the act of providing invoices to the district accounting office from 2011 to 2015 that were purposefully misrepresented as costs for bona fide training clinics for wrestling coaches but were actually for travel costs, lodging and sports events tickets that are alleged to have also involved others who were not part of coaching staff.
The defense’s postition is that the statute of limitation has expired on those ten charges. They contend that according to Minnesota law, only 3 years may expire between the act and the date of any charges. Those were made in February of this year. They did not contend that charges 11-16 were protected by the statute of limitations.
The defense said that charges 1-10 should be dismissed as not fitting the requirement of a continuing sequence of thefts, noting that after the district paid the invoice submitted for the expenses that the action ended. They also contend that the legislative statute applied points to the difference between receiving and possessing stolen property. Since the accused does not possess the stolen items, he cannot be charged in this manner continuing that the act was completed when the invoice submitted was processed and accepted for payment by the district.
Dakota County Prosecutor Natolli then presented her arguement stating that the office plans to present a case that includes all 16 charges disputing the defenses explanation that the actions by McLay did not fall within the time allowed to prosecute him for embezzlement and theft of public funds.
The Judge then attempted to get a trial date set, which was anticipated by a member of the defense to require a week?s time to complete. Due to conflicts by both legal teams and an already congested court calendar, options were given for October through December dates with no consensus of availability until January 6th , 2020. Trial preparations will begin with the prosecution conveying to the court that it may take longer to find an impartial jury due to the size of the community and the amount of information that may already be circulated about the alleged events. The proceedings ended with nearly 40 supporters filing out of the courtroom followed by McLay and his team. The next court date will take place on Friday July 12th where the prosecuter’s briefs will be filed, followed on the 19th with the defense’s response.
