Accused accomplices in 4th Precinct protest shooting want charges dropped

Attorneys for the three men accused of participating in a shooting that injured five people at a protest in Minneapolis last year made their cases for why those charges should be thrown out in front of Hennepin County District Court judge Hilary Caligiuri on Tuesday.

Daniel Thomas Macey, 27, Nathan Wayne Gustavsson, 22, and Joseph Martin Backman, 28, are each charged with second-degree riot and multiple counts of aiding an offender.

The accused offender is 24-year-old Allen "Lance" Scarsella. Prosecutors say Scarsella fired the shots near the protest over the fatal police shooting of Jamar Clark in north Minneapolis.

Attorney Alexander DeMarco said on the night of the shooting, his client Backman went with the other men to the site of the protests to interact with demonstrators, poke a little fun at them and record their interactions on a livestream.

"That may not be mature or wise, but it's protected speech," said DeMarco.

Backman and the other men are "gun enthusiasts," said Robert Jones, who is representing Gustavsson. But he said that doesn't mean they were carrying guns that night.

Jones said Gustavsson was attacked by the protesters and had one of his teeth knocked out. If Gustavsson was carrying a gun, Jones said, that would have been perhaps a good time for him to brandish it.

The attorneys also denied accusations that the men tried to destroy evidence of the shooting after it happened.

However, assistant county attorney Judith Hawley said there is evidence to show the men tried to hide or destroy video and other electronic communications linking them to the shooting.

While he was in the Hennepin County Jail, Gustavsson phoned a relative and asked them to take down his Facebook page, according to Hawley.

Caligiuri is expected to rule on the motions to dismiss the charges in late January, a few weeks after Scarsella is scheduled to stand trial.