Date Archives August 2016

Additional criminal charges filed against Evavold in disappearance of missing sisters

The Dakota County Attorney’s Office has filed additional criminal charges against Dede (Deidre) Evavold for her involvement in the disappearance of two sisters from Lakeville.

Four additional felony charges of  deprivation of parental rights have been filed against Evavold, who has now been charged with a total of six felony counts for her involvement in the disappearance of Samantha and Gianna Rucki.

Samantha and Gianna Rucki disappeared on April 19, 2013, during a custody and divorce dispute involving their parents.

Evavold is a close friend and confidant of Sandra Grazzini-Rucki, the mother of Samantha and Gianna, who she met during Grazzini-Rucki’s divorce with David Rucki.

Continue reading

Court allows audio and video coverage of Grazzini-Rucki’s sentencing hearing

Judge Karen Asphaug has granted a request to allow audio and video coverage of Sandra Grazzini-Rucki’s upcoming sentencing hearing, which is scheduled for September 21, 2016.

Grazzini-Rucki was found guilty last month on six felony counts of deprivation of parental rights related to the disappearance of her daughters, Samantha and Gianna Rucki. The sisters ran from their home on April 19, 2013 during a custody and divorce proceeding involving their parents.

David Rucki was awarded full custody of all five of his children in November 2013, while two of his daughters remained missing. On November 18, 2015 – 944 days after they disappeared – the girls were found living on a ranch in northern Minnesota by law enforcement, headed by the Lakeville Police Department. Rucki was reunited with his daughters days after they were found and they live with him at the family’s home in Lakeville.

According to Judge Asphaug’s order, there will be “no audio or video coverage of any victim testimony given during the proceedings.” Judge Apshaug’s order also states that any “audio/video coverage shall be limited to the proceedings conducted within the courtroom…”

Audio or video coverage is also “is prohibited during recesses or at any other time the trial judge is not present and presiding” and any audio or video coverage “shall not extend to activities occurring in other areas of the court building.” Continue reading

Michelle MacDonald dishonest about past attorney discipline

Michelle MacDonald vigorously denied any additional attorney complaints had been filed against her when asked during an interview earlier this year with Republicans who were deciding if she would be endorsed again in her bid for the Minnesota Supreme Court, despite being disciplined in 2012.

In her interview with the Republican Party of Minnesota’s Judicial Elections Committee on May 13, 2016, MacDonald acknowledges that an attorney complaint was filed against her in April 2014 with the Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board by Judge David Knutson.

Knutson filed the complaint based on MacDonald’s behavior while serving as Sandra Grazzini-Rucki’s family court attorney.

MacDonald said in her interview that she had not been informed by the Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board if the investigation into Knutson’s complaint had not been completed.

Continue reading

Attorney complaint filed against Michelle MacDonald

A 16-page petition for disciplinary action for violating of rules governing attorney conduct has been filed against Michelle MacDonald by the Director of the Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board, Susan M. Humiston.

The complaint against MacDonald is focused on her behavior during family court proceedings involving Sandra Grazzini-Rucki and her legal representation of Joseph Francis D’Costa. The complaint alleges MacDonald disorganization required the trial to last longer than necessary, adding that MacDonald offered exhibits that “were a mess.”

MacDonald’s attorney told Minnesota Lawyer that she will fight the complaint.

Continue reading

Attorney: Grazzini-Rucki used donated ‘food stamp cards’ for bail

UPDATE: (8:00 PM, Monday, August 3, 2016) – When asked to comment on the statements from Gary Mogen, who posted the $50,000 bond for Grazzini-Rucki, MacDonald wrote: “it is what it is.” MacDonald added that as the bail bondsman, Mogen “is not concerned with how the cash is raised.”

____________________

Sandra Grazzini-Rucki was able to post her $50,000 bail within hours of being convicted of six felonies for deprivation of parental rights, by using donated “food stamp cards” according to her attorney, Michelle MacDonald.

Grazzini-Rucki was found guilty last week on six felony counts of deprivation of parental rights related to the disappearance of her daughters, Samantha and Gianna Rucki. The sisters ran from their home on April 19, 2013, during a custody and divorce proceeding involving their Grazzini-Rucki and David Rucki. Continue reading