Judge dismisses case against man accused of lighting St. Paul apartment on fire

A judge citing insufficient evidence for a trial to proceed dismissed a situation this week against a man who was accused of lighting a St Paul apartment on fire three years ago Ramsey County District Judge Leonardo Castro threw out the situation against Matthew Ryan Gieske on Tuesday as a jury trial was about to begin later noting in his order that the prosecution disclosed in court the witness who could identify Gieske as the man who started the fire would not be called to testify The State did not provide a reason why it was not calling the witness the judge s dismissal order read Dennis Gerhardstein spokesman for the Ramsey County Attorney s Office announced Thursday in a declaration that a key witness had left Minnesota and could not be located for trial Gieske of St Paul had been charged with first-degree arson in connection with the blaze at an apartment building in the city s North End neighborhood on Sept He was unveiled to be incompetent to face the charge in August and later civilly committed for a mental illness In July he was discovered competent for court proceedings Partially melted gas can recovered According to the criminal complaint a man described police he saw Gieske holding a butcher knife outside the apartment building in the block of Marion Street The man who was a tenant commented he was familiar with Gieske and knew he had displayed odd behavior in the past the complaint read When Gieske pointed the knife at the man and his sister the man clicked his handgun s safety and demanded Gieske to get away from them the complaint noted Gieske left but came back later and tried to get into the man s second-floor apartment the complaint alleged The man looked out his peephole and saw Gieske and heard the noise of someone shaking a lighter fluid can The man reported he saw Gieske holding something that was on fire possibly a lighter and then saw flames rush up his door The flames entered his apartment over and underneath the door and the man escaped via his balcony The building was evacuated and no one was injured Police recovered a partially melted gas can in the hallway and noted that the building was severely damaged by fire Officers made contact with Gieske who appeared to be in predicament and did not follow directives the complaint reported He was taken into custody and the man identified him as the man at his door Gieske declined to give a message to police State lacks sufficient evidence On Tuesday prior to calling for the jury Castro inquired the prosecution and defense about bystanders who were going to testify at trial The prosecution identified several onlookers but announced none would be able to identify Gieske as the person who intentionally started the fire according to Castro s dismissal order The only identity evidence the State could offer was that the Defendant was seen leaving the apartment complex that was engulfed in flames the order read First responders were attempting to evacuate the apartment complex at that time The prosecution sought to introduce body-worn camera evidence of two people identifying the clothing of a person they saw exiting the apartment building Castro after reviewing the body-worn footage concluded their statements were in response to investigative questioning and were not excited utterances his order read The statements would therefore be excluded without the testimony of the onlookers Castro wrote the prosecution did not intend to produce evidence that could create a link between the Defendant and the person who started the fire Related Articles Noah Feldman The Supreme Court s conservatives may be the end of tariffs Charges Former treasurer of Lakeville gymnastics booster clubs stole K from groups accounts Jurors convict Minneapolis man of trafficking sexually assaulting teen and woman at Mahtomedi apartment You needed to kill me White Bear Lake man wrote to attacker who received -year sentence Ex-federal agent from Eagan admits in court to recording sex acts with -year-old sending the videos to her Other than the Defendant s presence at or around the scene of the fire no other evidence circumstantial or direct would be produced that would implicate the Defendant the order read Castro noted that based on what the prosecution stated him in court no evidence of motive or opportunity to commit the crime would be presented at trial Therefore this Court concludes that based on the evidence that would be presented at trial the State lacks sufficient evidence to establish probable cause and present this matter to a trier of fact the order read Gieske remains in custody on a pending civil petition as mentally ill and dangerous filed by the Ramsey County Attorney s Office A trial on the matter is set for Dec before Judge Timothy Carey