A dismiss-case/suppress-evidence motion was filed last week by the attorney for 44-year-old Jamey Scott Ralph Strand, a former Woodbury Math and Science Academy teacher charged with soliciting underage sex online. 

According to the Blue Earth County criminal complaint against him, Strand was arrested in a police sting Aug. 24 after driving to Mankato expecting to connect with a 14-year-old girl he met on a mobile chat app who turned out to be an undercover detective.

In concert with Strand’s subsequent Sept. 4 court hearing, defense attorney Zachary Webster submitted a motion to dismiss the case and suppress any evidence against his client that was obtained in violation of his rights.

The criminal complaint, signed Aug. 26 by Assistant County Attorney Michael Hanson, says that while in custody, Strand agreed to talk about his case with Mankato police without an attorney present.

Last week’s largely administrative hearing culminated with county Court Administrator Therese Kadrlik scheduling Strand’s Omnibus Hearing for 10 a.m. Sept. 29 before District Judge Krista J. Jass.

An Omnibus Hearing is required before trial if a defendant has not already pleaded guilty.

At such hearings, defendants enter pleas; pretrial conferences may be held to help resolve cases before trial; and motions are ruled upon concerning probable cause, as well as evidentiary, constitutional, procedural and discovery issues.

If a defendant’s plea is other than guilty, the Omnibus Hearing  judge must set a trial date within 60 days, barring persuasive “good cause” for delay.

Webster’s Sept. 4 motion seeks to dismiss the case because of an “insufficient showing of probable cause to believe that the defendant committed the offense(s) charged in the complaint.”

The motion also asks that the following evidence be suppressed because it was obtained in violation of Strand’s rights: 

• Any evidence from search and seizure.
• “Confessions, admissions or statements in the nature of confession made by the Defendant.” 
• Evidence against Strand “discovered as a result of confessions, admissions, or statements in the nature of confessions.”

Webster’s accompanying “Demand of Disclosure of Brady Material” – named for the landmark 1963 U.S. Supreme Court case “Brady v. Maryland” – also seeks written summaries of the following, among other verbal or written evidence:

• Conversations between all prosecution witnesses, attorneys and/or any law enforcement officers or victim-witness advocates.
• Benefits, promises and inducements made to witnesses and/or third parties..
• Prosecution witnesses’ “anticipated testimony and conversations” with the County Attorney’s Office.
• The criminal histories of all prosecution witnesses.
• Any and all potential impeachment material relating to any of the state’s witnesses.

Judge Jass also presided over Strand’s Aug. 26 initial court appearance, where she released him from the Blue Earth County Jail on conditional $100,000 bond.

The complaint says Strand communicated with the undercover detective on the mobile chat-room app Kik between Aug. 14 and his arrest on Aug. 24.

Strand was dismissed by Woodbury Math and Science Academy shortly after police notified the school of his arrest.

He had taught physical education and coached basketball and badminton there since 2018.

According to the criminal complaint, Strand and the purported 14-year-old ninth-grade girl were to travel on from Mankato to Iowa Aug. 24 to have sex in his camper there, “as his wife was going to be gone for a few days.”

After his arrest, Strand also allegedly told police he’d had similar online connections with two other girls younger than 16.

The charge against him carries a maximum five-year prison sentence, a $10,000 fine or both.