The case against three Twin Cities men charged in connection with the double killings of two roofers at an Austin motel last year gets under way Monday in Hastings.

Saturday, May 12, 2001

The case against three Twin Cities men charged in connection with the double killings of two roofers at an Austin motel last year gets under way Monday in Hastings.

The trial was moved from Austin to the Dakota County Courthouse after Third Judicial District Court Judge Donald Rysavy ruled there was intense and continuing local coverage by the news media and there was concern that comments "attributed to counsel and other law enforcement personnel may well have seriously damaged the defendants’ constitutional right to an unbiased jury and fair trial," Rysavy said in granting the change of venue from Austin to Hastings.

Standing trial on multiple charges in connection with the double killings are St. Paul residents Vernon Neal Powers Jr., 28, Scott Perry Christian, 30, David Kenneth Christian, 28, and Jenea Larae-Nichol Weinand, 18. Weinand will be tried separately.

Rysavy, who has issued a gag order in connection with the case, said Saturday morning that the trial process gets under way Monday morning with jurors being called in to fill out questionnaires. He added that several motions that have not been ruled on in connection with the case will be dealt with Monday morning and pretrial details will be ironed out. In addition, the procedure for jury selection will be established.

After potential jurors fill out the questionnaires, attorneys will review the documents on Monday afternoon. The process to question jurors and to start selecting 12 jury members and two alternates likely will start on Tuesday, Rysavy said. The judge indicated that it may take a week or two to select a jury for the trial and that as many as 90 potential jurors might be screened before finding the panel of 14 to serve for the criminal trial.

The trial is expected to get under way the day after a jury has been selected, Rysavy said, adding that the trial should take one or two weeks to complete.

According to information developed by law enforcement authorities during the investigation, Powers, Weinand, Scott Perry Christian and Janet Elizabeth Hall, 18 of South Minneapolis, plus a girl came to Austin June 26, 2000, and stayed at the Downtown Motel. David Kenneth Christian, 28, of St. Paul and a brother of Scott Perry Christian, joined the entourage during the week.

Weinand and Hall unsuccessfully attempted to gain jobs as exotic dancers at downtown Austin bars and engaged in prostitution, authorities said.

Sometime late June 30, 2000, Juan Vincente Ramirez, 41 of St. Paul and the crew leader of a group of roofers staying at the Downtown Motel, went to Weinand’s room and bought sexual services.

He apparently showed Weinand a wad of cash, estimated at $8,900, when he paid her and returned to his room.

Weinand told her friends about the money later that night and a robbery plan was hatched. The entourage packed their belongings and loaded them into a silver Dodge Durango.

Then, Weinand went to Ramirez’s room, knocked on the door and when he answered, Powers and Scott Perry Christian, wearing ski masks allegedly burst into the room and announced a robbery, while Weinand ran to the Dodge Durango waiting in the motel’s south parking lot with David Kenneth Christian at the wheel and the other two women inside.

Ramirez and other members of the roofing crew sharing the motel room were threatened with robbery at gunpoint. When Ramirez apparently resisted and started yelling for help, both Powers and Scott Perry Christian opened fire with their handguns, police said.

Ramirez was killed along with Raul Pedro Guiterrez, 26 of St. Paul, and Benjamin Moreno Hernandez, 21 of St. Paul, was wounded. A 14-year-old cousin of Ramirez was also in the room and witnessed the crimes, but escaped injury.

Powers and Scott Perry Christian grabbed wallets and raced from the room to the getaway vehicle and drove out of Austin via Fourth Street SE, throwing the wallets away near the Roosevelt Street bridge.

The gunmen left a ski mask and one tennis shoe behind after a struggle with the victims in the motel room.

The four accused of the robbery-killings were taken into custody in St. Paul later June 30, 2000, with Hall. Later all were returned to Austin to face charges and stand trial in court.

Charges against Hall were dropped when the grand jury reviewed the evidence last August. She was released, but considered a material witness in the trials of the suspects.

Powers and the Christian brothers will stand trial together. Weinand’s trial is slated to begin afterward.

Call Chuck Gysi at 434-2230 or e-mail him at chuck.gysi@

austindailyherald.com.