Man found guilty of 'heinous' sexual assaults

After nearly seven hours of deliberation and close to five days of testimony, a Carlton County jury returned guilty verdicts on all but one kidnapping charge for a Scanlon man accused of rape, kidnapping and domestic abuse.

The jury found Dennis Michael St. John, 55, guilty of three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct "with heinous elements," plus one count of kidnapping and domestic assault with the intent of bodily harm. They found him innocent of a second kidnapping charge.

By finding him guilty of the heinous elements, St. John will spend his life in prison with no possibility of parole, Carlton County Attorney Lauri Ketola said.

The more serious charges "with a heinous element" were added by grand jury indictment in October 2020. It was the third time Ketola had convened a grand jury to consider more-serious charges in a case. She explained that her office cannot charge people with life-in-prison offenses. "When I took office, one of my priorities was vigorous prosecution of violent and criminal sexual conduct offenses; this case is both," Ketola said at the time.

According to the criminal complaint, the victim ran into St. John at the Black Bear Casino Resort in July 2020 and they left about 11 p.m. to go to his home. She told police she had been in a previous relationship with him. Once inside his Scanlon home, the woman told police that St. John said "paybacks are a bitch" and proceeded to strike her, cutting off her tank top, bra and underwear with a knife. The woman told police that St. John had two knives and a large flashlight that he used like a bat to bash things around her and threatened to kill her. She said he sexually assaulted her six or seven times that night and into the early morning hours Saturday and then throughout the day and into Sunday morning. The woman escaped, she said, when St. John went to walk his dog Sunday, driving off in her vehicle using keys she'd left on top of the tire. She said St. John told her he would find her and kill her and family members if she escaped.

During the trial, the woman admitted she had been inside his home with others for a time, and had engaged in consensual sex before he locked the door and made her a prisoner.

He stripped her of her clothing, and he stripped her of "her safety, her dignity, her humanity," Ketola said. "She knew she was trapped, she knew she had no way out."

In her closing arguments, Ketola walked the jury through the elements of each first-degree criminal sexual conduct charge: one for great bodily harm, one armed with a dangerous weapon and one for use of force or coercion. The "heinous element" added to each charge included torturing the victim, exposing her to "extreme inhumane" conditions and use of a dangerous weapon.

A prior sexual relationship doesn't mean consent is given, Ketola said. She pointed out that the victim took the stand and admitted to some unflattering behaviors. The victim also told the jury that St. John raped her "like clockwork" during the 30 hours he had her locked in his Scanlon home, raping her and beating her. He wouldn't let her sleep that entire time, using methamphetamine to keep her awake.

"Mr. St. John was in total control from the moment he locked that door. [The victim] knew it, [she] knew her life was in his hands. She couldn't protect herself and those he threatened," Ketola said, noting that St. John had photos of the victim's children and license plate numbers taken outside her home, which she had not given him.

Defense attorney John Schmid encouraged the jury to find St. John guilty of domestic assault, noting that his client had readily admitted to beating the victim. But Schmid argued the sex was consensual, using the fact that the two had been engaged in a prior relationship to bolster his argument, and the fact that the victim admitted to having consensual sex on Friday night and admitting she enjoyed "rough" sex.

He pointed to inconsistencies in the victim's testimony to police when she reported the crime, and suggested she "exaggerated" what happened to get revenge for being beaten up and to help her qualify for housing as a battered woman.

"You heard [she] was pissed off, she told the officers to just shoot him," Schmid said.

The jury should evaluate the evidence through "innocence-colored" glasses and hold the state to its burden of proof, he said. A swab with semen doesn't prove rape, nor do injuries caused by rough sex, he told the jury.

"Injuries don't prove the things [the victim] said happened, the same way the underwear, knives, bra and shoe don't prove she was assaulted," he said. "You know there was a fight and she was upset. It's reasonable to run out of a house after you've been beat up."

In her rebuttal, Ketola pointed out that St. John said he beat the woman up at 1 a.m. Sunday, and the victim left his house the next morning around 9 a.m.

"She was so angry that she laid there for eight hours and decides to make up a [huge] story and conjure up emotion and terror [when she called 911]? Listen to the voices," she said.

As of Wednesday, a sentencing date hadn't been set. St. John's $1 million bail was revoked immediately. He remains in custody at the Carlton County jail.