After Michael Laurence Campbell was convicted of three counts of criminal vehicular homicide in a car crash on March 14 that resulted in the death of St. Thomas junior Ria Patel, 20, Campbell’s attorney, Nancy Yost Laskaris, has taken issue with Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman’s public comments on the case.

Laskaris filed a three-page memo titled “Memorandum in Response to County Attorney Media Campaign to Impact Sentencing” on March 15.

“As the Hennepin County Attorney, it is inappropriate for Mr. Freeman to comment on a pending sentencing hearing in an open case that he is prosecuting, particularly when the comments are misleading and are intended to influence the outcome of the sentencing hearing,” Laskaris said in her memo.

According to the Hennepin County Attorney press release, Freeman said prosecutors will ask for 57 months in prison for Campbell, longer than the recommended 48 months. Campbell’s sentencing will take place April 5.

Freeman has publicly said Campbell probably was drunk and driving 65 mph in a 30 mph zone when he smashed into the pole in northeast Minneapolis and ran away, leaving Patel behind. She died at the scene.

“Then he tried to deflect responsibility for his actions by claiming Ms. Patel was responsible for her own death by kissing him,” Freeman said, according to the Hennepin County Attorney’s press release. “He also put her family through more distress by pretending that she was still alive.”

According to Laskaris’ memo, witnesses who saw Campbell after the accident did not describe him as appearing intoxicated. The memo also said that Campbell’s roommates, who told police he was “super drunk,” did not base this off of appearance.

“Mr. Campbell became angry with them when he came home with Ms. Patel at 2:30 a.m. to find a loud party going on at their house with many drunken and drugged party guests throughout the house,” Laskaris’ memo said. “They testified that he normally does not become angry so they assumed he must have been drunk.”

Laskaris also said evidence presented in the trial contradicted Freeman’s statement that Campbell was speeding. The memo said that because the passenger compartment of the car wasn’t damaged, Campbell was going closer to 30 mph and not 65.

“Cars manufactured in 2001, the year Mr. Campbell’s car was manufactured, are designed to protect passengers in up to a 30 mph collision as is required by federal safety standards,” the memo said. “The serious damage to the front of the car is because cars are designed to crumple in order to protect the passenger compartment. Ms. Patel was likely killed by the airbag if she was not sitting back in her seat, which is consistent with Mr. Campbell’s account.”

According to the Hennepin County Attorney’s press release, Campbell said he crashed the car because Patel “suddenly grabbed his face while he was driving and gave him a passionate kiss.”

The press release said that because Patel had multiple serious head and face injuries and Campbell had none, his story wasn’t believable. It also said that “the jury did not buy that story.”

Laskaris took issue with the prosecution’s claim that the jury did not believe Campbell’s story.

“Often jury verdicts are based on neither the state’s nor the defense arguments but rather on the jury’s own interpretation of the evidence,” the memo said. “It is impossible to say whether the jury rejected the ‘passionate kiss’ claim as was reported in the Associated Press, because it may have been the act of kissing while driving that the jury found to be ‘grossly negligent.’ ”

Check TommieMedia.com later this week for coverage of the sentencing hearing.

Solveig Rennan can be reached at renn6664@stthomas.edu.