Charges against a North Dakota man who killed a teenager with his vehicle, in what authorities said was a politically motivated attack, were dropped by the local district attorney.
Shannon Brandt, 41, was originally charged with driving homicide and leaving the scene of a fatal crash after hitting and killing 18-year-old Cayler Ellingson during a street dance in McHenry, North Dakota, last September.
Court documents, according to the Herald of Grand Forksreported that Brandt was the one who alerted authorities via a 911 call that he punched the teenager.
The suspect claimed that Ellingson “was part of a Republican extremist group and was calling on people to come get Brandt after a political row.”
Officials said there was no evidence to support Brandt’s claim that the teenager was a genuine “Republican extremist” regardless, but the fact that he believed it was the case seems to have been a motivating factor in what happened.
Unbelievable: CBS News gives a 400-word description of the ND nut who ran and killed a teenager during a political dispute without mentioning that he told the police he thought the teenager was a ” political extremist” republican.https://t.co/zSfqiNxKyc
— Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) September 22, 2022
Charges reduced for man accused of killing North Dakota teenager he believed to be a ‘Republican extremist’
Brandt’s charges were initially reclassified from criminal homicide while driving a vehicle to murder with a dangerous weapon when an investigation found he had been drinking, admitted to dispatch it was ” more than an” accident and had fled the scene of the crime.
Foster County State’s Attorney Kara Brinster, however, reduced the charges eight months after Ellingson’s death to manslaughter.
Jack Posobiec calls out the North Dakota prosecutor who dropped charges against the DRUNKEN DELUSIONIST who took the life of a young conservative over nothing more than an ideological disagreement
CALL TO ACTION!!! POSO URGES HUMAN EVENTS OBSERVERS TO CALL KARA BRINSTER (N. Dakota DA)… pic.twitter.com/cKAxKqmR5l
— Wojciech Pawelczyk (@WojPawelczyk) May 19, 2023
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Brandt’s lawyer said the charges weren’t dropped due to a plea deal and were changed at the discretion of the DA, but on Thursday, he pleaded guilty to the new charge of manslaughter.
Additionally, Brinster dropped the charge of leaving the scene of an accident in exchange for his guilty plea.
Brandt initially faced a 20-year sentence but could now be sentenced at most 10 years old.
North Dakota man arrested for running down and killing a teenager he claimed was a Republican extremist pleads guilty to manslaughter and faces up to 10 years in prison pic.twitter.com/4RKVMBi2Bf
— Dowop Robinson (@dowop_robinson) May 19, 2023
RELATED: Joe Biden melts again, says ‘extreme’ Republicans are a ‘threat to democracy’
Free on Bond
Shannon Brandt was released after posting $50,000 bond, spending days in a Stutsman County jail after being arrested. He currently remains free on bail pending conviction for manslaughter.
He said he believed the victim was a “Republican extremist,” a phrase used and repeated verbatim by President Biden and nearly every prominent Democrat daily on social media.
Joe Biden calls Republicans extremists and fascists.
Democratic Senate candidate Tim Ryan calls on people to “kill and confront” Republicans.
Some weirdo listens to their violent rhetoric and admits he murdered someone because he was a Republican… And the left-wing media is totally silent! https://t.co/ebXsw0ITPk
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) September 23, 2022
One has to wonder if Brandt would have been treated this way if he had used a phrase like “MAGA” or a right-wing equivalent when he called to report he had run over a teenager he thought was a democrat.
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