Central Minnesota prosecutor reviewing Winston Smith death

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A Minnesota prosecutor is reviewing evidence in law enforcement’s fatal shooting of Winston Smith Jr. during an arrest. Crow Wing County Attorney Donald Ryan said he’ll review the evidence on his own and hopes to have a charging decision by mid-October.

Ryan said he was asked to take the case because counties closer to the Twin Cities had conflicts.

Members of a U.S. Marshals Service task force shot Smith in June. Authorities have said Smith fired a gun, but a witness disputes that. Ryan said he’s had “a few” police deadly force cases in his decades as Crow Wing’s top prosecutor and doesn’t recall ever bringing charges.