FOLEY, Minn. – Bail was set at $6 million for a rural Benton County man, Karl Thomas Holmberg, 64, who was arrested after a stand-off with police in which five officers were shot. Holmberg himself was shot in a foot in the encounter. After his arrest he flown to a Minneapolis hospital. Doctors cleared him to be returned 60 miles to Benton County for legal proceedings. He was in court for the bail hearing. The charges: Six counts of first-degree attempted murder of a police officer and six counts of first-degree assault against a police officer. Holmberg told Judge Michael Jesse that he didn’t know that the officers who showed up at his door didn’t provide any positive identification. No way could he have known who were, he said. He added that he was sorry he shot anybody but that no one had a right to kick down his door. Despite Holmberg’s explanation, Judge Jesse set bail at $6 million without conditions — or $3 million with standard conditions such as not possessing weapons or ammunition. The judge scheduled Homberg’s next court date in 1-1/weeks.
Legal representation
Holmberg, believed to be of modest means, normally woukd be entitled to a court-appointed attorney at no cost to him. But at the bail hearing Judge Jesse ruled that Holmberg didn’t qualify. An attorney who represented Holmberg in earlier cases, Todd Young of Roseville, said he hasn’t spoken to Holmberg in years.