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June 21, 2009

Burglary charges dismissed

Mankato man figures to be key witness in murder trials

By Dan Nienaber

MANKATO — Felony burglary charges have been dismissed by Blue Earth County prosecutors for a former Mankato man who agreed to become a key witness for a 2007 murder in Cottonwood County.

The charges were dismissed last week for 22-year-old Hans Paul Hottel, who was the first person arrested and charged during the investigation into the murder of 20-year-old Alberto Samilpa Jr. on Nov. 19, 2007. The murder is directly connected to a burglary near Mankato, which resulted in the burglary charges against Hottel, his brother, 25-year-old Lars John Hottel, and one of the three suspects still charged for the murder.

Samilpa’s body was found next to a burning Porsche car off Highway 71 near Delft, a small community north of Windom. The 1999 sports car and a 2000 Lincoln Navigator, which was found burning several miles away in Watonwan County, had both been stolen from a Lime Valley Road residence north of Mankato two days earlier.

Interviews with Hottel’s roommates in Mankato led to his arrest and the arrests of 23-year-old Gerard Irving Holt, 22-year-old Lionel Benavidez and 21-year-old Axel Rene Kramer. Trials had been scheduled for early this year for the suspects, but the trials were delayed after Holt, Benavidez and Kramer were charged with first-degree murder.

Hottel, who admitted to witnessing the murder, cooperated with Cottonwood County and state prosecutors, who said they couldn’t comment about whether Hottel testified before a grand jury. The grand jury’s indictment was required for the first-degree murder charges. Cottonwood County Attorney Douglas Storey did say Hottel will likely be called as a witness during the murder trials.

In exchange for Hottel’s cooperation, Assistant Minnesota Attorney General Alfred Zdrazil allowed Hottel to plead guilty in December to a gross misdemeanor charge of aiding an offender. Zdrazil also agreed to have the Blue Earth County charges dismissed and not request any additional jail or prison time for Hottel.

“It was what the attorney general’s office felt they had to do,” Storey said in January. “Without someone at the scene who was involved, it was difficult to prove premeditation. We did what we felt we had to do to strengthen our case.”

The document filed last week by Assistant Blue Earth County Attorney Pat McDermott, which dismissed the burglary-related charges, only said the charges were dropped because Hottel had complied with a plea agreement.

The second-degree murder charge that had been filed against Hottel was dismissed last year after a judge ruled there wasn’t enough probable cause to justify the charge. Hottel’s attorney, Michael Kircher, Hottel witnessed the murder then went along with the others because he was concerned about his own safety.

Trial dates have not been scheduled for the murder trials.

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