State of Minnesota v. Nicholas Rekieta, Kayla Rekieta, April Imholte

  • 🐕 I am attempting to get the site runnning as fast as possible. If you are experiencing slow page load times, please report it.

Will Nicholas Rekieta take the plea deal offered to him?


  • Total voters
    1,268
  • Poll closed .
I don't think anything Barnes says regarding this is to be taken seriously, he's just in autistic defense lawyer mode where he's spinning everything mentally to be as favorable to his non-cilent client as possible. Thats the kind of retarded mindset you want from a lawyer on your side, but it's totally nonsense in the court of public opinion.
 
Clip of Nick snorting coke on stream, please? It seems like an officer believes Nick snorted coke while off stream and will testify to that unless I missed something. He's going to say he ate a powdered donut and got really excited to get back to the stream or some dumb shit.
Doesn't matter. Probable cause is a really low standard. We're not talking about beyond a reasonable doubt. It's just a reasonable basis and there absolutely was one here.

I don't think anything Barnes says regarding this is to be taken seriously, he's just in autistic defense lawyer mode where he's spinning everything mentally to be as favorable to his non-cilent client as possible. Thats the kind of retarded mindset you want from a lawyer on your side, but it's totally nonsense in the court of public opinion.
No you should want a lawyer that can soberly assess the merits of a given argument, not one that is sperging out
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Seeing someone do coke on a livestream is more than enough for a search warrant

but that's the thing. he didn't. he just had a white powder on his nose, which could be explained away. and that's why this is such an interesting lesson in probable cause.

the standard isn't "beyond a reasonable doubt" or even "preponderance of evidence". rather, the standard is "the totality of circumstances" (as established in Illinois vs. Gates 1983). so when we look at the whole picture---the deterioration, the complaining/clearly neglected kids, the concerned community members, the marks on his arms, the behavior on stream, the white powder, the testimony from a firsthand witness---yeah, that's plenty for a search warrant.
 
Last edited:
Minnesota has requirements for firearm storage:

View attachment 6029862
HF 4300 isn't in effect until August 1, 2024. This is the current statute: https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/609.666

609.666 NEGLIGENT STORAGE OF FIREARMS.
Subdivision 1.Definitions. For purposes of this section, the following words have the meanings given.
(a) "Firearm" means a device designed to be used as a weapon, from which is expelled a projectile by the force of any explosion or force of combustion.

(b) "Child" means a person under the age of 18 years.

(c) "Loaded" means the firearm has ammunition in the chamber or magazine, if the magazine is in the firearm, unless the firearm is incapable of being fired by a child who is likely to gain access to the firearm.

Subd. 2.Access to firearms. A person is guilty of a gross misdemeanor who negligently stores or leaves a loaded firearm in a location where the person knows, or reasonably should know, that a child is likely to gain access, unless reasonable action is taken to secure the firearm against access by the child.

Subd. 3.Limitations. Subdivision 2 does not apply to a child's access to firearms that was obtained as a result of an unlawful entry.
If the guns weren't loaded then it's not a crime.

(What IS a crime is having drugs and guns, sorry Rackets.)
 
Clip of Nick snorting coke on stream, please? It seems like an officer believes Nick snorted coke while off stream and will testify to that unless I missed something. He's going to say he ate a powdered donut and got really excited to get back to the stream or some dumb shit.
I'm no lawyer but pretty sure that they look at the totality of circumstances ie multiple people reported him for drug use, his physical appearance has greatly deteriorated, his mannerisms are consistent with drug abuse. It's not just the coke on the nose - the cop even mentions that he noticed nick exhibited symptoms of CNS stimulant usage after returning from the bathroom
 
I was really hoping the police had directly spoken to someone who had seen the drugs and gotten statements, be that Aaron, the oldest son, whomever. These look to me like reasons for a CPS investigation, and not a search warrants for drugs to me, but I'm a stupid faggot.
Remember it's also small town Minnesota, and the difference between a CPS visit and a warrant might just be who can get out there sooner. If the CPS case agent is based out of somewhere like St Cloud and couldn't show up for a week or two, the cops (and judge) may have decided to move forward sooner rather than later.

FOUR PEOPLE talked to the pastor (probably individually) and so word that this has been mentioned to the cops would spread pretty quickly in a small town. And if the cops knew to find the "social media blogs" then the town did, too, and they saw the appealstream.

It's more and more likely that @AnimeSucksCopeAndSneed and his little dragons may be kind of the linch pin of all this.

Has it been established exactly how the guns were unsecured? Were they strewn about everywhere all willy-nilly or was it that the cop used scary wording because they didn't have a trigger lock on them? I can kinda read that there was an AR in the master bedroom and I think I saw somewhere that it was under the bed but that doesn't tell me much. Everything else seems to have been in some safe. I'm not saying Nick is innocent but I trust cops and the legal system as much as I trust a blitzed Nick. I'm a little leary of the wording I'm seeing come from the cops.
Apparently the gun under the bed was unsecured and had ammo near it. Everything else on the list is "garage safe" except the shotgun. Honestly, for all the other stupid shit, the guns sound like what you probably would find in any house in the rural midwest, even stored moderately well, though "under the bed" isn't a great place when you have small kids who love to hide under beds. Rackets never really seemed like much of a gunguy.
 
Last edited:
I thought Robert Barnes had a good reputation. Why would he want to throw it all away for a scumbag like Nick Rekeita?
I mean he is a lawyer and a lawyer is supposed to do zealous representation. Maybe it's a mix of defending a friend and thought experiments and workshoping arguments? He probably isnt absolutely saturated with balldo lore like we are so he might just be unaware. I will say the little bit that I've seen of Viva and Barnes talking about this it seems like there are some interesting legal questions that could be asked about this whole, sorrid affair but, I mean fuck me running man, I don't know if this is the legal hill to do battle and die on.
 
I was really hoping the police had directly spoken to someone who had seen the drugs and gotten statements, be that Aaron, the oldest son, whomever. These look to me like reasons for a CPS investigation, and not a search warrants for drugs to me, but I'm a stupid faggot.
The child neglect/endangerment investigation was centered in large part around suspected substance possession and use in the home so they're intertwined for the purposes of a search warrant.
 
I can't imagine having more probable of a cause than video of the guy doing cocaine on a livestream. As a layman, that alone seems like way more than enough for a search warrant
I think the police were waiting until they had a good opportunity to get a search warrant. That Livestream contained the proof they needed in order to do it.
But the one thing that does seem strange to me is that the neglect allegations weren't followed up by a wellness check preceding the search. Based on what I've read over the last few days, it sounds like that's standard procedure. My guess is that the cops knew beforehand that Rekieta wasn't ever going to let them into the house without a warrant and so didn't bother, but I'd be curious to hear any other explanation.
They basically knew that they couldn't get anything strong enough without somehow arresting Rekieta. They likely knew he was a problem for a little while, but didn't have the ability to do anything about it. Then he makes this stream and then he is vulnerable so they grab their opportunity. Child Abuse/neglect while extremely awful can be hard to prove and so the best way to deal with something like that is to get Rekieta on something all and append Child abuse/neglect to that other thing.
i think the only of these complaints that matter is the first one, that the judge is biased and shouldn't have signed the warrant.
I concur. I will say however that the Prosecution can use the Child abuse/neglect claims to destroy Nick's character to anyone paying attention to this case quite easily. It's one thing to fight over the procedure for a search warrant and it is another thing to do this while your kids aren't being fed.

Whether Nick's kids are fed or not is not a major part of the legitimacy of the search warrant, but any argument that comes from someone who doesn't feed their kids will be taken less seriously.

I mean he is a lawyer and a lawyer is supposed to do zealous representation.
It is a opportunity for self-promotion too. Barnes gets more famous and shows he is willing to zealously defend someone. Maybe a potential future client would like that.

This used to be the one thread I was able to follow.

Thank you, featured content.
I was hoping this thread would slow down as it has been moving too fast for discussion even, but NOPE. Hopefully the Balldo board will fix this somewhat. Eventually this thread will slow down as there is a while until anything actually happens in this case. Hopefully.
 
Nick is going to have a pretty hard time defeating the search warrant because probable cause really isn't a high bar. Here's a excerpt from State v. Keodouangdy, a recent unpublished appellate case:

The United States and Minnesota Constitutions provide that no warrant shall issue without a showing of probable cause. U.S. Const. amend. IV; Minn. Const. art. I, § 10; see Minn. Stat. § 626.08 (2020) ("A search warrant cannot be issued but upon probable cause . . . ."). When determining whether a search warrant is supported by probable cause, we give great deference to the issuing judge's determination of probable cause and do not conduct a de novo review. State v. Holiday, 749 N.W.2d 833, 839 (Minn. App. 2008). We limit our review "to ensuring that the issuing judge had a substantial basis for concluding that probable cause existed," applying a totality-of-the-circumstances test. State v. McGrath, 706 N.W.2d 532, 539 (Minn. App. 2005), rev. denied (Minn. Feb. 22, 2006). Under the totality-of-the-circumstances test,
[t]he task of the issuing [judge] is simply to make a practical, common-sense decision whether, given all the circumstances set forth in the affidavit before him, including the "veracity" and "basis of knowledge" of persons supplying hearsay information, there is a fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in a particular place.
State v. Wiley, 366 N.W.2d 265, 268 (Minn. 1985). We review the components of a search-warrant affidavit in combination rather than in isolation, and "doubtful or marginal cases" are resolved in favor of the preference for search warrants. Holiday, 749 N.W.2d at 839-40 (quotation omitted). A search-warrant application is facially sufficient to support a finding of probable cause if it "suppl[ies] specific facts to establish a direct connection, or nexus, between the crime alleged and the place to be searched, particularly in cases involving the search of a residence for evidence of drug activity." McGrath, 706 N.W.2d at 539 (quotation omitted).

So not only are the appellate courts generally reluctant to overturn even borderline search warrants, but the requirement for Fischer to have issued the warrant is just that, considering everything laid out in the affidavit, there was a "fair probability" that they would find cocaine or some evidence of cocaine use in the house. Nick's pillstream alone provides enough evidence that there was probably cocaine in the house, and all the reports about his general decline by Aaron and the church just tie this up neatly for the court.

I'd say that Nick should just take a plea deal (not that the overgrown toddler ever would), but that'd require the prosecutor to offer one in the first place, and I think that he is such an embarrassment and pain in the ass of his local legal community that they are just going to throw the book at him.
 
Back