Unconscious assault trial is reset

The trial of a man accused of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman who was a guest at his home has been tentatively rescheduled for May, after being delayed because of courtroom shutdowns due to Covid-19 concerns.

Jamin Paul Beardley, 45, of Sawyer, Minnesota faces charges of first-degree criminal sexual conduct filed in August of 2020. He also faces charges of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and misdemeanor domestic assault in a separate case dating from November 2019.

When defense attorney Joanna Wiegert asked that the trial be set in the fall of 2021 during a hearing held online Monday, March 1 the prosecuting attorneys and the judge balked at the request.

“We are living in an era where we’ve been unable to schedule trials and some very serious matters have not been able to be resolved,” Carlton County Sixth District judge Robert Macaulay said. “These are two of those cases.”

According to the criminal complaint in the August 2020 case, a woman and her husband were guests at Beardsley’s home along with three other people in July 2020. They had driven separately to get there and the woman became intoxicated over the course of the evening. She allegedly laid down on the coach and fell asleep in the early hours of the morning. Her husband stayed awake with Beardsley until leaving the home at approximately 7 a.m., after trying to wake his wife. The husband then drove to their home in Cloquet, and his wife soon arrived.

According to the complaint, the woman was hysterical and barely able to speak when she got home, and claimed Beardsley had assaulted her. She didn’t go to work that day, and texted her employer that she had been sexually assaulted. She also showed a friend bruises on her body, including on her left breast, which she said Beardsley was squeezing as he made sexual comments.

Three days later the victim went to the hospital for back pain and reported she had been sexually assaulted. She told police officers the same story, explaining that she allegedly woke up and Beardsley was sitting on top of her. She said she froze and kept her eyes closed and he got off her and left shortly after. She said she had had flashbacks of the assault and his voice since then. The officer confirmed the bruising.

In a previous interview with the Pine Knot News, Carlton County attorney Lauri Ketola said someone who is drunk, high or drugged, asleep or otherwise impaired cannot legally give consent for sex.

In the second case, filed eight months before, a woman who had been living in the same home with Beardsley and his wife as a roommate, alleged that for approximately 30 seconds Beardsley pointed a gun at her and accused her of destroying his marriage before going back into his room. The woman packed her belongings and left the residence, telling police she was very scared.

At the conclusion of Monday’s brief hearing, Judge Macaulay set the trial for the week of May 17, and asked that the final pretrial and settlement hearings be held April 30.

“If matters proceed, there are some other matters that would not proceed to trial that week, but the charges in this case are very serious and take priority over some other cases,” Macaulay said.

Carlton County attorney Lauri Ketola said there is currently a [plea bargain] offer in the file and she would likely set the cut-off date for accepting that offer sooner, because of how much work it will be to line up witnesses for trial in both cases. The oldest case will take priority, the attorneys agreed.