Plea deal possible in apartment manslaughter case

A Cloquet man facing manslaughter charges after an alleged fight gone wrong is working toward a plea deal with the Carlton County Attorney’s Office.

Joel Jay Ammesmaki, age 59, was charged with first-degree manslaughter in September for “causing the death of another while committing assault in the fifth degree with such force and violence” that death or great harm was “reasonably foreseeable.”

Ammesmaki was scheduled for a contested omnibus hearing to argue probable cause for the charges on Monday. The hearing was delayed by nearly an hour as attorneys for the defense and prosecution talked wi...