'Unconscious' sexual assault case resumes

Hearings in a 2020 case of a Sawyer man accused of sexually assaulting an intoxicated woman who was a guest at his home have resumed, after first being delayed because of Covid-19 concerns and then because the suspect failed to appear in court.

Jamin Paul Beardley, 46, faces charges of first-degree criminal sexual conduct filed in August of 2020. After he failed to appear at a review hearing on May 10, 2021, the jury trial set for the following week was canceled. Beardsley had also been sentenced to 90 days in jail in April 2021 — which he didn’t serve — for contempt of court for disorderly behavior toward the judge while holding court.

Beardsley was arrested by Carlton County Sheriff’s Office deputies Friday, May 27 on a warrant. Bail was set at $50,000 on Tuesday, May 31.

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 lay 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 arrived shortly thereafter.

According to the complaint, the woman was hysterical and barely able to speak when she got home. She said Beardsley had assaulted her, allegedly putting his penis in her mouth. 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.

According to Minnesota Statute 609.342, there are a number of circumstances under which a person who engages in sexual penetration with another person or in sexual contact with a person under 13 years of age, is guilty of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree; these include if the person is under 13 years of age, or at least 13 but under age 16, fear of harm, weapons, injury, force or coercion or — as alleged in this case — the actor knows or has reason to know that the “complainant is mentally impaired, mentally incapacited, or physically helpless.”

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

Beardsley was wanted on different charges, dating from 2019, of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and misdemeanor domestic assault. Hearings in that case have also resumed.

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 of Beardsley.

A scheduling hearing in both cases is set for June 13 with Judge Rebekka Stumme.