Thursday, May 17, 2001

Seven jurors have been selected so far in the trial of three men charged with last summer’s robbery-double homicides at an Austin motel.

If jury selection in Dakota County District Court in Hastings is completed by Friday, the trial could begin Monday.

The trial of the three men was moved to Hastings on a change of venue granted by Mower County Third Judicial District Court Judge Donald E. Rysavy at the request of defense attorneys for the defendants.

Vernon Neal Powers, 28, Scott Perry Christian, 30, and David Kenneth Christian, 29, all of St. Paul, are charged with premeditated first-degree murder in the shooting deaths June 30, 2000, of two St. Paul men and the wounding of another at the Downtown Motel in Austin.

Juan Vincente Ramirez, 41, and Raul Pedro Guiterrez, 26, both of St. Paul, were shot to death. Benjamin Moreno Hernandez, 31, also of St. Paul, was wounded in the robbery-murder crimes.

Meanwhile, Mower County Sheriff’s Department deputies transported Jenea Larae-Nichole Weinand, 19, of St. Paul, to Dakota County District Court today. Weinand is slated to be tried separately in connection with the double-homicide that occurred June 30, 2000, at the Downtown Motel in Austin.

Jury selection for three other suspects charged in connection with the same robbery-homicides events last summer is under way, so it is not expected that Weinand will testify in court.

Weinand’s involvement stems from her having sex for money with Ramirez at the Downtown Motel and seeing a large amount of cash money the man kept rolled in a bandana.

She told her accomplices about the money and a robbery was planned, according to the criminal complaint.

Weinand went to the motel room occupied by the victims. When they answered her knock on the door, Powers and Scott Perry Christian allegedly burst inside demanding money, while David Kenneth Christian waited in a getaway vehicle outside with another woman.

The victims resisted the robbery attempt and were shot, according to the complaint.

The defendants all were captured within 12 hours of the shootings in St. Paul.

The men charged in the killings are being held in the OakPark Heights maximum security prison after an escape from the Mower County Jail.

Weinand has been held in the Mower County Jail since her arrest.

Call Lee Bonorden at 434-2232 or e-mail him at lee.bonorden@austindailyherald.com